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File 134618966856.png - (61.64KB , 700x700 , ssf6-45.png )
448863 No. 448863 ID: f09b71

Last minute preparations are being made for stage 6. Alison is planning on having Recluse, Scanner and Healer ghost talk with her, while everyone else entering the stage will summon Arbiter, Engineer or Mathematician, who will all be in the same room as Alison for indirect talks. Chief will also join in to take care of Guardsman for at least one room.

There is only time for other short changes and additions if Alison wishes.
Expand all images
>>
No. 448865 ID: 886a4d

Sounds good, not what I wanted but at least this way we can hopefully have everoyne survive.

The instant the stage starts the first two testers should begin of course.
>>
No. 448873 ID: d6c330

Make sure one your 3 leaders is carrying the spare shopkeep memory locket. Scanner's the most likely to trigger a shopkeep appearance right? No offense to her, but scan is something the game messes up from time to time.

Distribute any extra freeroam tools to people headed in. Grappling hook etc doesn't help you in the dream.

Hug everyone risking themselves and wish them luck. You'd be right there with them if you didn't have to worry about risking everyone in the dream house.

(...do Scanner and Healer even have weapons? I can't remember what they are. Hmmm. Make healer's ribbons prehensile. XD )
>>
No. 448877 ID: f09b71
File 134619279059.png - (32.65KB , 800x1500 , s6-1.png )
448877

Alison makes sure that Scanner is holding the spare shopkeep memory locket, and everyone that is going into the safe zone is hugged wished well by Alison.

She waits by until she gets summoned by her assigned three runners simultaneously.

Recluse says there is a note here.

The door is unlocked, and may be opened at any time. However, doing so immediately will trigger a 100% death trap. To deactivate this, all remote buttons must be found and pressed. One of them is attached to this note. There are an unknown number of buttons. If a mere one of them remains active when the door is opened, the individual will die. Time will not be standardized, and so people who successfully leave the room quickly will have a head start over those who spend a great deal of time here.

Novelty items:
Recluse: Bucket, Screwdriver, Hammer, Extendable Pole
Scanner: Grappling Hook, Bucket, Pickaxe, Pen
Healer: Three Sided Die, Bucket, Notebook, Pencil

>>
No. 448878 ID: b85f8c

Push button, then search under the carpet, behind the painting, on top of the shelf, then try investigating the panels on the far wall.
>>
No. 448879 ID: 886a4d

Easiest thing I can think of... bypass the door, go through a wall. But that might trigger the death-trap too.

Alright possible places. Rug, paintings, floorboards, books, ceiling panel, Wall panels shelf above door.
>>
No. 448882 ID: d6c330

>Three Sided Die
I'm sure this will prove incredibly useful.

>Puzzle
Well, we have an advantage here. We have multiple people searching in parallel who can share results, so we can find all the buttons faster. And we can stagger exits, so fuck ups don't kill everyone.

Also, as a ghost, Alison can probably float around at look for buttons too, even if she can't push them. Especially in higher up parts of the room, or if she ghost through things to look behind them.

>places to check (split between people).
under the rug, behind the painting, 3 wall panels, ceiling panels, underside of the shelf, top of the shelf/awning above the door, behind the books, inside the books (like the classic booze in a cutout book). Probably fastest to knock the books off the selves, really. And the 4th wall we can't see, of course.

Pay attention to differences in the rooms. It's possible the button hiding spots will be randomized. I'd expect the number of buttons to be the same though. All we know for now is the pictures are different.
>>
No. 448886 ID: d6c330

Oh, and the suspicious space where there should be a 4th wall panel, but there isn't.

Looking for floorboards to pull up and secret compartments in the walls / ceiling will be pretty time consuming, I'm really hoping Alison can just ghost through solid objects and look around.
>>
No. 448887 ID: 04b86a

Well this should be fast, being able to have people search multiple spots at once.

Scanner can climb onto the shelf above the door.
Recluse can poke the Ceiling panel with the extendable pole.
Healer can search under the rug; the underside of the rug might be a good place to check, too.
Atlas and Mako can start pulling down books, Atlas starting from the left side and Mako starting from the right side. There may be buttons inside some of the books, so they should take a moment to open each one to see if it's hollow inside.

Arbiter, Engineer, Mathematician, and Chief can have the rest of their people search whatever's left.

The pictures being different is rather conspicuous, but it's too early to tell if there's something significant about that.

And I notice we can only see three walls. Is the fourth one featureless?
>>
No. 448921 ID: f09b71
File 134619988444.png - (32.41KB , 800x1500 , s6-3.png )
448921

All 3 push their buttons then move on. Alison notes that only three of the walls have features, and the fourth wall may as well be invisible to Alison.

Scanner checks the painting. It opens up like a door on a hinge. There is another painting behind it.

Healer checks the Rug. There is a glass pane underneath, with blocks and the button panel. An inscription says that she can slide the blocks around by making contact with the glass like a touch screen, and has to get the button panel out of the exit. And other blocks will not be allowed to pass through the exit, only the button panel. Each time a single block is moved, one turn is taken, but a single piece can be moved multiple tiles in a single turn. No rotations are allowed.

Recluse investigates the panel, namely the area where it looks like there should be one. It opens, and he finds a compartment that has button found. He now has 2.

Alison tries to move around, but she can't move through the walls to investigate. For those purposes, she appears solid.
>>
No. 448930 ID: f09b71
File 134620023029.png - (3.82KB , 356x307 , refblocks.png )
448930

Handy dandy number reference system for solution proposals.
>>
No. 448935 ID: bdb3f8

5: up one, left all the way
3: up three
7: up three, left 2
6: right 2, up 5
B: right 5 up 2 right out
>>
No. 448941 ID: 886a4d

At this point Alison should check in with the other leaders and exchange findings since it will take a few 'turns' to have everyone solve the Rug Puzzle and get hidden panel.

Healer solves her puzzle then checks for the hidden panel Recluse found. She should then check her paintings, and take over for Scanner in seeing how deep they go. If it doesn't go deeper she should observe how they differ... and if nothing can be gleaned further rip the paintings out from the frames they are in.

Scanner should get both buttons then go check the high shelf with her grappling hook.

Recluse should solve the Rug Puzzle. Once that is done he should start tapping ceiling panels with his entendable pole.
>>
No. 448942 ID: 04b86a

>>448935
This.


Scanner: Try opening that painting.
Recluse: Do rug puzzle
Alison: Try to see if there's anything on the shelf above the door.

And, of course, confer with everyone else to see if there's a spot we don't need to check.
>>
No. 448950 ID: d6c330

Yeah, Alison should pass discovered buttons on to fellow coordinators, and see if they've found any others.

We need to check if the rooms are identical or not. Scanner check to see if she has a button where Recluse did, Recluse check if he has a puzzle under the rug like Healer (and if so, see if it's the same puzzle!). Healer should solve her puzzle. o's solution should work.

Alison also float up, check on top of the shelves and the thing above the door. Peer behind the books if you can manage it.
>>
No. 448958 ID: 54c7e5

The book with the L on it seems particularly suspicious, especially because of the falling L block from behind Scanner's painting.
>>
No. 448978 ID: d6c330

>>448958
Which book has an L on it? I don't see it. All I notice about the books is that there appears to be an identical set in each room, right down to the sizes, order, and squiggles titles. Which is unusual, in that in the past we've seen duplicate chambers with non-identical books (math books written by different authors, etc).
>>
No. 449013 ID: 6a1ec2

Scanner: pee through the painting's eyeholes.
>>
No. 449067 ID: 32e092

Might as well have one of them knock all the books off the shelf after the floor on which they'd fall has been checked over.
>>
No. 449143 ID: f09b71
File 134625294517.png - (33.09KB , 800x1500 , s6-4.png )
449143

With Alison's solution to the block puzzle, it will take 5 turns to complete.

Scanner opens another painting.
Recluse takes a turn removing the rug to begin solving the rug puzzle.
Healer begins solving the rug puzzle.

Outside progress:
Duelist has found a button on the shelf above the door. Throwing something at the shelf should be enough to knock it down.
Guardsman has found a hidden floor panel near the opposite corner of the door.
Aside from the paintings, the room, even the books, appear identical.

>>
No. 449144 ID: 886a4d

Time to flip through another painting while the others solve those puzzles, if it goes more then 10 deep it might be a time waster though.

How goes the Dream Experiments?
>>
No. 449148 ID: d6c330

No way to know if there's a button behind all the paintings, or if they're just a time trap. And I can't make out a clue or message from the progression of images.

Let's try climbing up on to the bookshelf (grappling hook!), and knocking the books down. There might be a button behind the books, or hidden inside a compartment cut out inside a book (knocking them down will reveal that faster than flipping through them).
>>
No. 449157 ID: f09b71
File 134625609092.png - (34.75KB , 800x1500 , s6-5.png )
449157

Scanner uses her grappling hook to hook a book at the end, and starts pulling all of the books down. In the end, there isn't anything behind the books on the wall, but one of the books was actually a disguised box with one panel inside.

Outside Progress:
The Bandit has found that the double panel at the ceiling can be pushed upward, and a button will fall out.

Experiment Progress
> A tier 2 should immediately try to sleep upon entering the stage.
They are unable to sleep in a stage.
>A tier 2 should try to sleep from the Dream once the stage starts.
They enter the stage, having a late start based on how long they took to get to sleep.
>>
No. 449158 ID: f09b71
File 134625610989.png - (32.53KB , 800x1500 , s6-6.png )
449158

Scanner returns to opening more paintings.
>>
No. 449159 ID: 886a4d

Alright, there are suspiciously shaped objects in each painting after the first... can Scanner see if she can pick them up? They look like tetris blocks to me.

>Dream Experiments
Good news... we can recieve reinforcements. Bad news: They'll have to start from the start and they have to leave the normal way.
>>
No. 449161 ID: d6c330

Make a note of which book had the button in it (check the title). That way the other people can find it faster.

>tier2 experiments
So you can enter the stage from the dream house, but not exit. Being behind shouldn't hurt them much, since we can pass the button locations on to them. Our competition is working solo.

I supposes King could have done the same thing, except he'd be dependent on actual ghosts (no safe house), and he might not be able to pass ghost talk around as easily as us if he lacks a merchant (as an ex-admin, he may still have a shopkeep baron loyal to him though).

>Painting loop
Do the paintings actually have a solid back, or are they just canvas in a frame? Because if they're canvas, you can just punch through them all at once, to the secret compartment in the back, if there is one.

Just tear through with the pickaxe already. One swing will go through like 10 paintings.

>buttons so far (7)
Door (freebie)
Door shelf
Inside book
Missing wall panel
Puzzle under rug
Hidden floor panel in the corner
Ceiling Panel
>>
No. 449237 ID: 54c7e5

Maybe the suspicious parts of the painting are the clues for a safe behind all of the paintings. If it turns out they're important and we just smash through the paintings, we could end up kinda screwed.
>>
No. 449243 ID: d6c330

>>449237
I suppose. Easy way to check- if the blocks in the paintings are significant, they should appear in the other rooms.
>>
No. 449268 ID: f09b71
File 134627427387.png - (32.93KB , 800x1500 , s6-7.png )
449268

Scanner inspects the out of place blocks from before, and tries to pick them up. It comes right off, and turns into a quarter piece of a button panel.

On the outside, Clarence has just realized this as well. It appears that while the paintings are still different, there is always one piece of panel for each painting past the first.
>>
No. 449276 ID: d6c330

That's probably all the buttons, unless there are more secret compartments. But I don't see any places for that jump out. Good on Gaudsman for finding the one in the floor in the corner- I don't see any hint of it there.

...he just started hacking up the room looking for hiding spots, didn't he.

Let's spent some turns having everyone get all 8 of the buttons we've found so far. We'll see if anyone lucks into a new discovery in the process.
>>
No. 449283 ID: 886a4d

Gather all the pieces needed... then just to be paranoid check behind painting 5.

I think that covers everything we can check so have a Tester gather all 8 buttons and then open the door. Everyone else should also be gathering the buttons of course. While we wait the people finished with gathering the buttons can check the room over once more or browse the book titles for anything interesting for our Library. Our Tier 2s should have plenty of space.
>>
No. 449290 ID: b6edd6

Have we checked those three panels(?) under the bookshelf?
>>
No. 449314 ID: 54c7e5

We also haven't done anything with the ceiling, or that shelf up above the door. Might as well check those out, this is probably the point at which the system starts trying harder to kill everyone.
>>
No. 449315 ID: 886a4d

Ceiling was poked by Bandit, Shelf was checked by Mako. The only place that hasn't been mentioned is the fourth wall and those panels and I think Recluse checked those when he found that hidden panel.
>>
No. 449369 ID: f09b71
File 134629364028.png - (32.86KB , 800x1500 , s6-16.png )
449369

>Guardsman just started hacking up the room looking for hiding spots, didn't he
Chief confirms this to be true.

Found Buttons:
Door Freebie
Painting Combination
Hidden Panel
Shelf Above the Door
Rug Puzzle
Double Panel Ceiling
Floor Panel
Secret Book


Recluse and Healer have all of those, and Scanner is a couple of turns behind due to needing to backtrack a couple of paintings. Invisible forces beyond her understanding, i.e. the system, prevent more than one painting being turned at a time. There is nothing at the end of the 5 paintings.

The Arbiter also reports that there is nothing in the 3 visible panels underneath the bookshelves. No other buttons have been found, but he is not certain that these are all of the buttons. After all, the survival rate is to be 1% this stage, so the difficulty may be ramped up. Alison may want to direct them further, or simply let them search on their own if she doesn't have one test out opening the door.
>>
No. 449376 ID: 886a4d

Check the rest of the books, other then that I can't think of anything else. In any case spend no more then 5 turns having people search for additional buttons. This will be sped up by coordinating between leaders so no one repeats. Also in case the game gets tricky have everyone check their inventories.

This is the first room however and I bet the hidden floor panel trips lots of people up since it isn't obvious.
>>
No. 449380 ID: d6c330

Oh Gaurdsman, you are a persistent scamp, aren't you.

We can afford a little more time before we risk a life. Working in concert, we're still probably ahead of all but the luckiest solo players. Might as well check the remainder of the books. Check the secret panels for a second secret panel inside the secret panels. Let people poke around on their own initiate a little (and let Gaurdsmen finish making kindling of his room).

Check your inventory, and your special inventory to see if the system hid a button on your person. Check inside the buckets you all have.
>>
No. 449384 ID: 886a4d

Gaurdsman is a loose cannon, but hes our loose cannon. I don't regret making him tier 3 even if I did do it for Scanner.
>>
No. 449388 ID: 085efe

check the 4th wall
>>
No. 449390 ID: 04b86a

Heh, it's a good thing we brought Guardsman, or else we would have lost a tier 2 testing the door before we thought to just tear the room apart.

>>449376
If by "search" you mean "tear the room apart because there aren't any obvious spots left", then this looks good. Have a tier 2 test the door before anyone else opens it, of course.

I just realized that the mechanics of this room mean there's going to be a lot of people who won't even get the chance to be absorbed.
>>
No. 449393 ID: f09b71
File 134629571873.png - (32.16KB , 800x1500 , s6-21.png )
449393

>Check the books

>No more than 5 turn searching
After 3 turns of additional searching, Recluse finds a floorboard that guardsman must have missed, as there was one right by the door as well.

>Check Inventory
Standard inventory did yield an additional button.

>The fourth wall
It has nothing.

Outside:
Guardsman finds one Hidden Wall panel right above the first hidden floor panel!

Total buttons located: 11


Two more turns pass without finding anything.
>>
No. 449401 ID: d6c330

Well... 11 is prime. And if you ignore the freebie, that means we found a nice round 10. It's certainly tempting to hope we got them all. (Too bad we didn't leave a log for this room, huh?).

Continue coordinated searching until the stragglers have completed their puzzles. Then I guess we can risk someone?

...wait. The ghosts are solid here. Check that there's not a button hidden on or in the ghost coordinators. Say "Aah", Alison.
>>
No. 449409 ID: 886a4d

... Wait no one has checked the door!
>>
No. 449417 ID: 04b86a

>>449409
... Yeah, sure, check the door for a hidden panel. If there's a button there, though, then there's going to be a lot of ghosts lost this stage.
>>
No. 449418 ID: 085efe

>>449401
(Too bad we didn't leave a log for this room, huh?)

We totally did. Didn't you see it?

>ALISON #933 - NO THEY AREN'T, PUZZLES ARE PROBABLY RANDOMATED. STAGE 9 HAD MEAT GRINDERS FOR ME.

See? Randomated puzzles
>>
No. 449424 ID: d6c330

>>449418
Well, it all depends what elements are randomated randomized. It's kind of a moot point at this moment though.

>>449409
Yes, this, but be very friggen careful not to open in. Not a job for Gaurdsman.
>>
No. 449454 ID: 54c7e5

>>449401
If ghosts are solid here, can a ghost press the button? It's probably a good idea to test this before someone alive presses the button.
>>
No. 449586 ID: f09b71
File 134634769792.png - (31.87KB , 800x1500 , s6-22.png )
449586

>Check, not open, the door
>Check the Ghost
Neither the door nor Alison has a hidden button, and it may be time to test out opening a doorway. Mathematician says he can use one of the tier 2's that have already done their part of the experiment as a test subject, or rather himself to try to push the button in his room, if Alison is absolutely sure she hasn't forgotten to check anything.
>>
No. 449590 ID: 886a4d

How thoroughly did we check the ceiling? Also check in each secret panel for false backing \ sides.
>>
No. 449595 ID: d6c330

>>449590
Yeah, make sure we checked the other ceiling panels, and absolutely check the secret compartments for a second layer of secret compartments.

...can the rug puzzle be pick or pried up off the floor? Is there a button hidden under it?

Short of going Gaurdsman's route and systematically destroying the entire room, I don't see any other good places to search.

>Mathematician says he can use one of the tier 2's
Well, um, alright, since they suggested it. Strategically, it makes the most sense to risk one of them, but I was leery to suggest it myself, after our previous stance on hard positions (probably would have defaulted to asking for a volunteer, or rolled the dice).

>or rather himself to try to push the button in his room
I'll assume this is poor wording. Math doesn't have a room- he's in the dream house running ops with Alison, Arbiter, Engineer and Chief.
>>
No. 449599 ID: f09b71
File 134634975349.png - (8.33KB , 700x700 , s6-25.png )
449599

>or rather himself to try to push the button in his room
>assuming this is poor wording.
A correct assumption. The tier 2 that is conjuring mathematician's ghost will attempt to open the door.

>Check secret panels for secret secret panels
The painting and the rug puzzle are clear, but the back wall's hidden panel that recluse first found had a panel behind that as well. The ceiling panel nearest the door also was able to be lifted and shifted to the side, to bring the button count to 13.

A couple turns are spent searching while some others catch up, but nothing can be found, so a tier 2 science subject opens the door. Mathematician reports that it is clear.
>>
No. 449602 ID: d6c330

Lucky 13.

>It's clear.
Yay! We made it through without killing anyone! Sweet.

...just to be on the safe side, stagger the next few exits before everyone goes through at once. Just out of the paranoid fear that the button count isn't constant.
>>
No. 449610 ID: f09b71
File 134635180819.png - (38.81KB , 800x1500 , s6-26.png )
449610

>Stagger the next few exits
Clarence and Atlas leave next, and more will leave the turn after.

The shopkeep shows up. He says hey. How's it going. He couldn't help but notice how fast a batch of people managed to find all the buttons, and how almost all of them just so happened to be Alison's bunch. Well, it wasn't him who noticed, but still.
>>
No. 449613 ID: 4a328b

Wow, thanks for the confirmation that that was ALL of the buttons--we were still wondering if we'd missed any, but this is a nice tip from his boss that we got'm all, yup.

Sucks to be his boss if he didn't MEAN to tip us off, but such is life.

Speaking of, does he know if it's still sixer who we're dealing with~?
Hi Sixer~
>>
No. 449614 ID: bbee3d

Well, she HAS only spent this entire game gathering a bunch of intelligent and cooperative people together. It's not that surprising.

Doesn't he have other things he should be doing? Besides distracting players during a timed challenge, that is?
>>
No. 449615 ID: d6c330

"Hello, Shopkeep. Since you're standing in front of me in three separate places, I think you can figure out how we did it."

...actually, does that do anything funny? Excluding Smuggler, we've never had an instance of multiple Shopkeeps face to face with Alison. They're all running the same memories.

Do you still have your locket? If not, have Scanner offer the new one.
>>
No. 449619 ID: f09b71
File 134635297395.png - (13.37KB , 700x700 , s6-26-2.png )
449619

Alison asks if he knows it's Sixer that sent him, but the shopkeep doesn't know who that is. Just someone up top, he says. Apparently someone named sixer. Still, Alison mentions that she is on a time trial here. She does tell the scanner to show him the locket however, and he takes a look. Sure is a lot of people he's familiar with, as it turns out.

Shopkeep says yeah, he's frozen time for this conversation. Still, this Sixer fellow must feel that Alison might have cheated, but seeing her as a ghost on all these people is --

Wait a second, Alison isn't dead, he wants to know why she's a ghost!
>>
No. 449621 ID: 886a4d

A god let me do it. Give a sad smile as you say this.
>>
No. 449622 ID: 0c2247

>>449619
"A favor from the top. I don't mean high up, I mean the top."
>>
No. 449626 ID: d6c330

Is Alison having the exact same conversation in three places at once? Is Shopkeep "remembering" his simultaneous interactions with the alternate Alison ghosts in real time, or is each of the three isolated from the others?

>Alison isn't dead, he wants to know why she's a ghost!
...how can you tell that I'm not dead?

But yes, you're right. I'm not dead- I'm asleep. I did invite you to my dream house, remember? Sixer knows too.

Don't just show him the locket. See if he still has the first one. If he doesn't, give him the new one.
>>
No. 449629 ID: e3f578

>>449619
Someone that's part of the CAI gave me the ability to do so where from where I'm currently located.
A machine that can do so.
Others and I can emulate a dead status now, the conditions and programming have been all been met legally, but now we don't actually have to be dead for it to work. It's not a glitch in the system, or a flaw, it is effectively a perfectly legal loophole in the system and no amount of programming or rewriting rules could ever change what we are doing right now. We have saw through the entire system and can do these things now. The only way to stop us effectively now is to stop the competition entirely and stop making further stages. The game has changed, shopkeeper. End it now, or accept it.
The god of the system has allowed us to do this. There is no way around it.
>>
No. 449632 ID: 4a328b

Ask him how ghost talk works!

Don't say anything as he explains, just smile, and shake your head if he messes up a point, like if he says it lets you talk to [just]/dead/ people....
>>
No. 449634 ID: d6c330

>>449632
Actually, I really like this approach.

Although, even after he realizes you can use ghost talk to summon sleeping people, he's going to ask how we've managed to avoid the stage, and how/where we're asleep, since the stages don't allow it. At this point, we fall back on

>>449621
And see if we get a response.
>>
No. 449636 ID: f09b71
File 134635502282.png - (9.21KB , 700x700 , s6-26-3.png )
449636

>Is Alison having the exact same conversation in three places at once?
Right now, the shopkeep by the scanner is the one talking. Nevertheless, he is aware of the other two copies that are hanging around.

The shopkeep also did not have his inventory move from the safe zone to the stage, so Alison gives him the new locket. He thanks her.

Alison says it was granted to her by not just high up, but the absolute top, like part of the CAI or a god or some equivelent. She asks how the shopkeep knows she's not dead, and her answer is that there are generally records of when there is a death. Also, he saw in her the safe zone something like 5 minutes before the stage started! She probably didn't trip over a rock onto a white glove, dueled a nearby dude and lost! On being asked how ghost talk works, the shopkeep says certainly not like this.

It's all well and good, shopkeep continues, but no, see, this would be okay if Alison were dead, then these three guys could summon her and communicate and have a legitimate edge here but this is very wrong. So something's gotta be done. In return, Alison argues that this is a perfectly legal loophole, and that she is legally able to be a ghost while alive.

Shopkeep says he's going to level with Alison. Just, right now, tell her what is up. Normal procedure would involve completely blocking any and all ghost talk out of stage 6. But the higher up is kind of on good terms with Alison, and it may be time for special treatment. But moreso, everyone of Alison's is already way ahead of almost everyone else, so quite frankly unless Alison tells her people to fight each other, they're going to have some smooth sailing for the remaining stage on a whole since the damage is done.

Yes, it is legal right now so Alison will get off clean for this, but this is obviously not the first time loopholes have been exploited and patched up by the system. Again, he's just the messenger, the higher ups are the ones who decide whether or not to change the rules or just outright make new ones and all. But something's gonna be done about this for sure, probably something extreme, but for right now Alison can just have a free pass through the stage for this. That is, everyone of Alison's will complete the stage. No problem, just come right out on top, free ride and all. They can stay if they want, but Alison won't be allowed to be a living ghost. That's not cool. Or some people complete and some people stay, that's cool.
>>
No. 449643 ID: d6c330

...if we take the free ride, we can't orchestrate an overload of the exit. We also miss out on any new secrets or information that might be hidden in the stage.

We could get the tier 2 testers out, I suppose. They've severed their purpose.

I suppose the logical thing to do would be to cut ghost talk have the team continue on, cooperate with King's people, and overload the exit. If we want to retain control, possibly ask if Alison could keep one ghost active? That or she enters late and rushes the room since we already have the solution.

...if the whole problem is with living ghosts, we could just swap our four coordinators out for people who are actually dead. We're all connected recursively, and we have plenty of ghosts in the pot. Call over Radmin, Mouse, and two other dead peeps to take over.
>>
No. 449644 ID: 886a4d

>>449636
Point out coordinating with ghost talk has always been possible. Sure there is a three ghost limit but that can easily be worked around. The only difference is that Alison is not dead.

If hes interested heres how to go about it.

Person A summons Ghost A, B, C
Person B summons Ghost A, D, E
Person C summons Ghost A, F, G
Person D Summons Ghost C, H, I
Person E Summons Ghost D, J, K
etc.

Well you get the point... each ghost relays the information to the other ghosts in the chain, and tada well coordinated teams without any cheating what-so-ever
>>
No. 449645 ID: 4a328b

We were planning on overloading the stage exits, so if we can, like, take up no exit slots or something by doing this that's cool; otherwise we'll probably want some people to stay and help organize the overload.

But yeah, we won't do the living ghost gig next stage if that's the deal the higherups want to strike--but we would like access to the stage seven sys-admin area. We have another keycard, and we want to know what it says. Sixxer can be there for the unveiling, if he's as curious as we are~
>>
No. 449654 ID: f09b71
File 134635688289.png - (10.38KB , 700x700 , s6-26-4.png )
449654

Alison reminds him that coordinating with ghost talk has always been possible, so she could just have her people summon one of Alison's dead people. Shopkeep says that is okay, she just won't be allowed to have a single instance of herself here as a ghost.

>Not take up exit slots
Oh, yeah, Shopkeep didn't mention it, but since it's a free ride, there would still be 100 more contestants that can exit. Alison's people wouldn't take up any exit slots, if she'd prefer to do it that way.
>>
No. 449655 ID: 4a328b

done

ask about meeting in the admin area of S7

we have that keycard, gotta see what's on it
>>
No. 449657 ID: 886a4d

So instead of Alison manifesting as a ghost we can just use the people who are dead already.... while Alison sits there doing nothing but give advice *sigh*

I say we agree to the terms. We don't want to get absorb deleted early!
>>
No. 449661 ID: d6c330

We'll agree to pull our living ghosts, but we'll replace them with dead ghosts if there are no objections. The tier2 testers can get a free pass, the others will stay behind to overload the exit and save as many others as possible. And to stay alert for more clues we can use.

Reorganize with real-ghosts:
Mouse: Recluse, Scanner, Healer
Radmin: Atlas, Mako, Bandit
Watcher: Clarence, Gambler, Guardsman

(not a lot of people we know personally to use as ghosts, even though we've got thousands of 'em).

If they need help for puzzles, they can still talk to Alison (and us), just through an intermediary.

Pass along word through Shopkeep to Sixer that Alison would like to talk once we reach the stage 7 safe zone.

...apologize for causing so much trouble, and thank him for being reasonable. We don't mean to make Shopkeep's life difficult, but we're committed to saving people, any way we can. That's not going to change.
>>
No. 449714 ID: 04b86a

If we wanted free passes, we would have just asked everyone to chill out in our home. If anyone wants to leave now they're free to, but I'd prefer for people to remain there to organize the exit overloading and absorb anyone who dies.

Ask Shopkeep if he remembers how we said we wanted to speak to the manager, and how we succeeded in meeting our administrator despite that not being something that could be done. When he says yes, tell him that we would like to visit the upper echelon. But not yet! First, we want to have someone use our S. 7 keycard and see if we get any new logs from it. But after we do that, we are definitely finding a way up there. And if anyone in the upper echelon can hear this, before they set up a welcome party for us we'd like them to take a moment to consider what generally happens to people who try to kill us, and how we normally respond when people try to be peaceable with us. And if they still have a problem with us being there, they should just keep in mind that as a contestant our job is to survive, and right now everyone, contestant and system personnel alike, is looking at a chance of survival of exactly 0%, and since that is clearly not the intent of the contest it is therefore their job to see to it that that changes, even if it means changing or breaking a bunch of other rules in the process.
>>
No. 449715 ID: 886a4d

>>449714
Nicely worded.
>>
No. 449854 ID: 2cc3ac

>>449654
Okay, just tell him that we'll be fine with having those who are dead doing the coordinating if that will prevent any drastic measures against Ghost Talk. That is perfectly normal and would give us essentially the same edge.

We don't want to use a free pass like this.
>>
No. 449857 ID: f09b71
File 134638635562.png - (8.61KB , 700x700 , s6-26-5.png )
449857

Alison asks shopkeep if he remembers how she said she wanted to speak to the manager, and ended up managing to do so. Shopkeep did know of that, yes. Alison continues that this time, she would like to visit the upper echelon, but not yet. She wants someone to use the S. 7 card for more logs, then she'll be going up there. And if the upper echelon can hear her, she'd like them to consider what happens to those who have tried to kill them versus what happens when they are peaceable. That is if it is at all possible to co-exist, as there has been some evidence to the contrary, but not nearly enough for Alison to settle with it.

>Pass along word through shopkeep to sixer that Alison would like to use the S 7 card
Shopkeep can't directly pass that on, but he presumes that he is being watched, so that message is already passed.

So Alison says that she would simply have had everyone hang out at her home if she wanted free passes, and so will offer her allies free passes if they want, but otherwise would like some to continue. Shopkeep says alright, and will ask her allies what they wish for.

Please choose a character to follow throughout the rest of stage 6. Non-living ghost communication will still be available, but only through words, not visuals.
>>
No. 449858 ID: 886a4d

Healer.
>>
No. 449864 ID: d6c330

>>449858
Healer is the practical choice, yes. We want her alive.

Strategy aside though, I'd much rather follow Scanner so we get to see it when Gaurdsman inventively finds his way to her in a single level or less, and then seeing the dynamic duo run the stage together. It's the most entertaining route.

Plus, uh, we can scan people. Intel's always good.
>>
No. 449894 ID: 04b86a

>>449857
>left out the 0% survival chance
That's fine, I guess. That might be better for an in-person revelation, anyway.

>might be impossible to coexist
I think there may be better odds on coexisting than on beating the CAI at all. In fact, the last part of my previous suggestion was to get them to team up with us, since it's obvious that following the normal rules is suicide.

>Who to follow.
>>449858
Healer would be a good choice; we've already seen enough of her to know that she has some good leadership qualities and is plenty competent, but we still know little enough about her to have fun fleshing out her character a bit more. On the other hand, choosing Guardsman so we can play a loose canon would be fun, too.

>>449864
Or we can be Scanner! Not quite as many hidden depths as Healer to flesh out, but her relationship with Guardsman is certainly interesting, given how quickly they took to each other, although that makes Guardsman a good choice so that we can look at it from the opposite end.

I think it'll be more fun to see it from Scanner's perspective, so I'll vote for her.
>>
No. 449930 ID: c7dc56

Putting a vote for mah man, the guardsman. We can just have him throw shit at all the traps till they break.
>>
No. 449987 ID: f09b71
File 134642615437.png - (103.60KB , 1459x633 , s6-29.png )
449987

After that fiasco, Scanner takes a deep breath, summons up some dead people that Alison talks about, and leaps through the door.

She ends up at another complicated looking puzzle, but a sign is there to explain at least some of the rules.

Attacking an icon on one of the platforms will send your attack through the opposing side's dummy of the corresponding color. A multiplier means that the attack will loop around, covering its column equal to the multiplier number. A '>>' means it will go twice as fast, hitting two tiles at once. If both levers are pulled by both parties, then an escape will form, but otherwise the escape will only occur when at least one person is slain.

Radmin says that Scanner must have bad luck, only one other of Alison's bunch had to fight a foreign person. And that person is Iso, who is probably going to just make a light and platform trail to the other side and kick the person's ass normally, or at least that's what Radmin is recommending. Everyone else got hooked up together.

Scanner scans. Tier 1, although very strong for a tier 1. Body/Armor/Weapon at 20 each, 2 Range, all communication, and the only boon worth note being recursive. All for a grand total of 7,229 CU.
>>
No. 449990 ID: 085efe

Make offer to leave together.

If he refuses, try not to get hit 56 times before you can hit him.
>>
No. 449994 ID: d6c330

>And that person is Iso
I assume you must mean Clarence, Radmin. Iso got pulled at the last minute when Alison decided not to send in people with redundant skill sets.

Might as well attempt communication before resorting to violence. Introduce yourself, flash your token, and explain you're a member of the Snake Queen's faction, and your current goal is to overload the exit and save as many people as possible. Would he be willing to pull the lever for a mutual escape, or will we have to fight him?
>>
No. 449995 ID: 886a4d

Recursive hmm? Looks like he has friends he wants to save. Lest try talking to him first, explain about Alison and how she has a way to bypass stages completely... it also allows you to interact with your dead all the time if you wish. We are planning on overloading the exit of this stage if he doesn't make up his mind but wants time to decide.

If that doesn't work move up. We can use our range if need be.
>>
No. 450013 ID: f09b71
File 134643191537.png - (35.68KB , 700x700 , s6-29-2.png )
450013

Scanner says she assumes that Radmin means Clarence. Radmin says whatever, Scanner, he's not the Chief Manager. He doesn't know people! Scanner ignores him and goes to talk to her opponent, since Alison would like the ghosts and all. She flashes her Snake Queen badge. The bird asks if she wants to fight. Scanner replies no, no she does not. The Bird says too bad, he's not a wimp. He's going to fight, Snake Queen vassal or not, he's not afraid.

Scanner says that he will have to hit her 56 times, and she only has to hit once, nevermind armor regeneration. He says that is a stupidly high bluff. Radmin laughs, saying that high bluff is no higher than his stupidity. Wait, no, that's not right. It was that his stupidity - Scanner tells Radmin to be quiet and focus, she has to move.
>>
No. 450018 ID: 085efe

Move up.
>>
No. 450021 ID: 06101b

>>450013
why does he want to fight? Isn't there a peaceful solution? why wouldn't one want that? that is more asshole-like than bravery...
is his name polo or are we having some quest-title-jumps here? 449143 was titled polo, too
>>
No. 450024 ID: 0c2247

>>450013
Tell him that avoiding needless fights doesn't make him a wimp, but picking needless fights makes him a bully.

Also, tell him that normally you'd just kill, absorb, and resurrect him, but with resurrect gone he'd be stuck as a ghost forever.
You have some CU on you, right? Offer him 2771CU to cooperate. Point out that will bring him up to exactly 10,000CU.
>>
No. 450027 ID: f09b71
File 134643373613.png - (103.48KB , 1459x633 , s6-30.png )
450027

>>450021
Quest jumping has led to name confusions, yes.

Scanner asks why he wants to fight, and he replies that he doesn't trust her. She notes that the lever didn't give a choice between dropping the other player or not, it was purely for an escape, and doesn't hurt.

The bird says OH FINE he'll go to the lever and pansy out geez.
>>
No. 450029 ID: 886a4d

Ask what would allow him to trust her.

Proceed to Lever.
>>
No. 450030 ID: c6ec33

>>450027
See if we can scan the colored system attackers
>>
No. 450034 ID: f09b71
File 134643449915.png - (103.63KB , 1459x633 , s6-31.png )
450034

>Scan a system attacker
They have a trait, not a boon or ability, called 'Attack Wave', but otherwise they have no stats.

Scanner moves to the lever, asking what would allow him to trust her. He says he doesn't trust her, but after thinking it over, he can't find a reason to attack her anyway since it isn't like he's otherwise putting his life in her hands.
>>
No. 450036 ID: 886a4d

Lets see if we can't earn that trust... the first step is not killing each other despite the large (supposedly) CU stock each other has.
>>
No. 450038 ID: d6c330

Well, that's fair enough. Doesn't hurt us to trust him, since even if he decides to attack, it'll barely scratch us.

At which point we'll be all, really? Do you want me to kill you?. And he'll either back down or die.

What's your weapon anyways, Scanner?
>>
No. 450050 ID: f09b71
File 134643672351.png - (105.23KB , 1459x633 , s6-34.png )
450050

>What is Scanner's weapon?
A large knife is her default attack, although she did get a drill as well.

Scanner and he move over to the lever, and an exit appears.
>>
No. 450051 ID: f09b71
File 134643674662.png - (50.58KB , 866x593 , s6-37.png )
450051

They take the exit, moving to a platform with 2 chests, each assigned to one another. The bird keeps his word, and does not attack scanner.

The bird says he scored, he got 500 CU.

Scanner has a choice between 500 CU and one shopkeep coupon that she can use to exchange one boon for another boon of equal or lesser value.
>>
No. 450053 ID: 886a4d

Take the coupon. We don't really need either of them but its interesting... we might be able to get access to T3 boons we haven't activated for Snuggler yet, like Lift.

Afterwords lets proceed.
>>
No. 450054 ID: c6ec33

>>450051
COUPON
>>
No. 450055 ID: 04b86a

The coupon is way more valuable. Tell him that if there's a tradeable item in his chest, we're willing to give him 1000 CU for it if it isn't just a skill line access or generic tier 1 item.
>>
No. 450057 ID: 886a4d

>>450055
Agreed.
>>
No. 450065 ID: f09b71
File 134643857878.png - (105.39KB , 1459x633 , s6-38.png )
450065

Scanner gets One Boon Coupon, and the pair of them move forward. He did not have a tradeable item as an alternative, so he took 500 CU with a grumble of what could have been.

The new spot looks like an identical puzzle, except that the attack dummies are in crossfire. Guardsman and Recluse are together at the opposing end.
>>
No. 450067 ID: 886a4d

Wave hello to your... sweetheart? and friend. Tell them your companion is so far neutral and we're hoping to convince him to join.
>>
No. 450088 ID: 06101b

>>450065
it would also probably important to tell our grumpy friend that again there is no fight here...
at least I hope there are 4 exits this time, not 2...
>>
No. 450115 ID: f09b71
File 134644639706.png - (6.19KB , 634x446 , s6-44.png )
450115

Guardsman is more of a celubrious friend of Scanner's that latched onto her for reasons that she is unaware of. She doesn't mind, nonetheless, and they are all able to exit the room as intended.

And they enter another room, completely blank save for one door. Scanner notes that she can now feel the full weight of guardsman pulling on her ears, although it is not that uncomfortable. It's mostly that the feel is different that strikes her as odd, but she's sure she'll get used to it.
>>
No. 450117 ID: 886a4d

Time to canvas this place for traps and buttons. Careful since theres no rules anywhere. Use Ghost Talk to coordinate between other teams.
>>
No. 450122 ID: 3aa036

Yes! the Guardsman-Scanner tower of power is once again complete!

And i think we are now in freeroam section.

Be sure to tell the Bird not to touch the door before we know it is safe, thus prompting him to show us that he ain't no pansy and opening the door.
>>
No. 450138 ID: d6c330

>celubrious friend
That's a wonderfully high diction way of saying they're best buds.

Anyways, yeah, assume the door is trapped, search the room. If you don't find anything, search the door, carefully. Check if anyone ahead of you has cleared this room yet.

If Bird tries to be stupid and open the door, Gaurdsman can menace him. He's not going to let no stupidface trigger a trap that could hurt Scanner!

(Remember you're in freeroam, and tiers higher than this guy you can physically restrain him if necessary without killing him).
>>
No. 450144 ID: bdb3f8

Not just a freeroam section, a section where realism has been turned on. Laws of physics apply, and damage probably has consequences beyond numbers going down. Last time this happened it ended up with blood everywhere. Be cautious.
>>
No. 450367 ID: f09b71
File 134652404104.png - (8.23KB , 634x446 , s6-45.png )
450367

A couple turns pass as everyone available re-summons the ghosts, which seem to come and go easily. Everyone else is in the same blank room, but guardsman notices something forming on the wall as Scanner reminds the bird to not touch the door. He says he's no pansy, but obliges nonetheless.
>>
No. 450368 ID: f09b71
File 134652405833.png - (2.48KB , 183x173 , s6-46.png )
450368

The diagram forms by Scanner. A disk object is moving towards the box on the diagram. There is a countdown above it with just over 3 seconds left.
>>
No. 450371 ID: 886a4d

Welp, that there is definately a giant buzzsaw. Unfortuantely there isn't much of a clue on what to do... though I wonder why that wall and the door is red. My bet though is those are both traps.

Two possibilities:

1) Theres a switch somewhere in the room that stops it.

2) We avoid it. either by going towards it through the door, going up, or going to the sides through the walls.

Clarence's team probably has it easy. doublemove, create platform, create light trail... yay.
>>
No. 450372 ID: d6c330
450372

Who's our third ghost anyways? I recognize Radmin and Mouse, but I don't remember specs there.

>Trap
We have 3 seconds to get everyone off the ground and dodge the saw blade that's going to cover the floor.

>Bird No Pansy
Henceforth, we have a name.

If no one swapper their stats around, all 3 of our people have float. Can they use that to get off the floor? Is No Pansy enough of a bird to fly?

If we can't do that, gaurdsman jump from Scanners head, and stab his sword into the wall to anchor himself. Scanner tosses the grappling hook up to him, and everyone climbs up and hangs on the rope to avoid the trap.

If Gaurdsman's sword is an insufficient anchor, we also have a pickaxe we could bury in the wall.
>>
No. 450378 ID: c6ec33

Try to get everyone off the floor in this room. I think the suggestions put forth so are are pretty good.

Through ghost coordination, spread the word on this room. Have one of the more expendable groups (tier 2?) try opening the door before the timer runs out, and see what's on the other side. If they don't see anything that would let them avoid a buzzsaw, have them float/jump/climb as appropriate.
>>
No. 450573 ID: b6edd6

If all else fails, try jumping on top of it if it is horizontal. Unless it does arbitrary touch damage, a buzz-saw is just a rotating disk on the flat sides.
>>
No. 450611 ID: 886a4d

Looks like we're going up!


The best idea would be to use weapons to stab the wall or cieling as high up as possible then lift themselves or jump up. Eveeryone, even NoPansy should have high enough body stats to easily do so.
>>
No. 450734 ID: f09b71
File 134660765113.png - (9.10KB , 634x446 , s6-47.png )
450734

>Who is the third ghost?
A friend of mathematicians who died some time prior.

Scanner gets Guardsman to slam his sword into the wall, and everyone climbs up on it. A quick ghost inquiry reveals that there is nothing beyond the wall other than a sighting of a buzzsaw that goes far faster than the diagram would imply.

Everyone here has an easy time anyways, with float or awkward flight, although either ability only allows one to hover a small number of feet above a floor.
>>
No. 450735 ID: f09b71
File 134660766147.png - (39.62KB , 700x700 , s6-48.png )
450735

They still hold onto the sword and other people after the buzzsaw comes, considering that said floor is now dropping fast.

Another diagram on the wall comes up. It is about to cut off the walls.
>>
No. 450739 ID: 886a4d

Alright our best bet is to get on those chains. Make a hole in the ceiling (explosives, acid, cut it, lots of options.) Then head on through. Have Recluse or Scanner help NoPansy up with the grappling hook or extendable pole.

Then climb. I bet those buzz saws are going to keep coming.
>>
No. 450740 ID: 085efe

Scanner, drill hole through ceiling. erryone go through that.
>>
No. 450741 ID: d6c330

Float won't work without a floor. Get through the ceiling, ASAP. Drill it, pickaxe it, sword it, whatever. Get up and through, fast.
>>
No. 450768 ID: f09b71
File 134661221327.png - (57.58KB , 700x700 , s6-49.png )
450768

Recluse carves a hole in the wall, and Scanner drills a hold. NoPansy tries to carve one, but fails, as his weapon is not high enough. He almost refuses to make it before he comes up. The buzzsaw flies through, the walls fall off, and now all that is left are four chains and the floor.

Everyone else is alright as well.
>>
No. 450769 ID: 886a4d

We climb. One person to a chain just in case. Scanner and Recluse should keep their reachers ready in case one of the chains start to fall.
>>
No. 450773 ID: d6c330

>>450769
This seems reasonable. Although Gaurdsman might have some trouble with his height and the spacing of the rungs. If he's not going to slow her down, it might be better off if he stayed with Scanner.

Scanner must have a big drill.
>>
No. 450804 ID: 085efe

>>450773
Eh, with everyone being tier threes, they should all have incredible physical prowess. I doubt a few rings are going to be a problem for guardsman.
>>
No. 450835 ID: f2c20c

>>450768
Don't forget to warn the other groups about the series of traps.
>>
No. 450837 ID: 886a4d

>>450835
This all happened to the other groups as well, hence the 'everyone else is alright'
>>
No. 450841 ID: d6c330

>>450804
I was just thinking he'd be forced to jump from rung to rung, while everyone else could climb like a ladder. While he's probably capable of it, I was thinking that a series of vertical hops is easier to screw up than climbing one hand over the other.
>>
No. 451279 ID: f09b71
File 134670220670.png - (74.51KB , 700x900 , s6-52.png )
451279

Everyone starts climbing their own chain. Guardsman insists he will be fine on his own, and is already going up, so Scanner goes onto her own.

Eventually the remnants of the room below disappear. 3 turns pass, NoPansy starting to lag behind, when something starts going down guardsman's chain. It is chomping off the chain as it goes down. Scanner scans. It does not have any ability lines or boons, but has traits labeled "Invincible" and "Instant Kill".
>>
No. 451283 ID: 1b5014

>>451279
Oh god, it's the Ultimate Chimera. Stay away!!
>>
No. 451288 ID: d6c330

Gotta get Gaurdsman over to another chain, ASAP. Some a combination of getting the chain(s) swinging, jumping, throwing him the end of the grapple.
>>
No. 451289 ID: 04b86a

There's just one on his right now? Then have him jump onto another chain! They're not that far apart.
>>
No. 451291 ID: 886a4d

Three options. Extendable pole, grappling hook or just plain jump. All should be possible for our group. And the other groups have plenty of weapon spots so they might want to form grappling hooks or extendable things of their own.

Is this a spot where we can spend CU because I'm seriously considering giving NoPansy a couple hundred thousand to get him to tier 2.

Also he might be invulnertable but the chain isn't. Once gaurdsman is off he can use his range to drop that fucker.
>>
No. 451307 ID: f2c20c

>>451279
Throw him something to grab onto so getting to a diff chain would be easier.
>>
No. 451317 ID: f09b71
File 134670448986.png - (69.63KB , 700x700 , s6-53.png )
451317

Scanner throws the grappling hook to guardsman, who goes over to join Scanner's place after all.
>>
No. 451319 ID: f09b71
File 134670450896.png - (56.25KB , 700x700 , s6-53(2).png )
451319

It doesn't appear to care about gravity.
>>
No. 451323 ID: 6a1ec2

Wait no... what's the chomper hanging from? Once he passes you, hook onto that!
>>
No. 451326 ID: 6a1ec2

OK nix that then. Just yell at him to stop. He doesn't have to do this!
>>
No. 451328 ID: d6c330

The chomper can float, and is eating it's way down the chain. It's not hanging from anything- the chain is hanging from it.

Well, continue upwards. Probably should expect at least one more of those.

How far behind had NoPansy fallen? Do we need to help him catch up?
>>
No. 451332 ID: 886a4d

Since it most likely will switch chains after it gets to the bottom Gaurdsman should keep an eye below them while Scanner climbs.
>>
No. 451363 ID: f09b71
File 134670675590.png - (41.47KB , 700x700 , s6-58.png )
451363

Scanner pulls an Alison and yells at him that he doesn't have to do this.

She feels silly, especially since it doesn't even appear to notice or acknowledge Scanner's existence.

>How far did NoPansy fall behind?
He is about a turn behind, as he is going approximately 2/3 the speed of everyone else. With the grappling hook delay, he was able to catch up.

That changes as few more turns pass, and although Scanner keeps NoPansy at least in sight, he is lagging. He yells to Scanner to watch out, the chomper is coming back up the Scanner/Guardsman chainlink now.
>>
No. 451366 ID: 886a4d

Grappling hook over to NoPansy.
>>
No. 451368 ID: f2c20c

>>451363
Maybe cutting the chain would confuse it. Make it lose track of where the rest of the chain is...

Cut the chain then grapple over to a different chain. Easy.
>>
No. 451378 ID: 886a4d

>>451368
I'm a bit worried that might cause him to switch over to a new chain immediately.
>>
No. 451379 ID: d6c330

Getting off the chain seems prudent. Unless we wanna try something crazy like riding it.
>>
No. 451384 ID: 886a4d

Grappling hook lasso? I like it.

... Lets try to see what happens if we lasso it. Its not like Scanner can't just let go of the rope and then make a weapon slot another grappling hook. In order to make this work though we'll all need to be on the same chain. Relcuse should head to NoPansy as well then.
>>
No. 451395 ID: d6c330

>>451384
Just so long as we don't touch it. "Instant Kill" probably means it function like video game enemies- any physical contact means we die.
>>
No. 451396 ID: b1423b

I just realized -- It's a Chain Chomp! What happens if it runs out of chain, though, like if we cut off above it? It may not care about gravity, but says who it's not like a cartoon following a line?
>>
No. 451688 ID: f09b71
File 134678922792.png - (51.17KB , 700x700 , s6-59.png )
451688

Scanner uses her grappling hook to latch onto that thing, and everyone moves to Scanner to grab on.

Radmin says that Duelist just cut the chain below him and it appears to drop the chomper, but hey this works too.
>>
No. 451689 ID: f09b71
File 134678926518.png - (45.45KB , 700x700 , s6-67.png )
451689

Scanner gets a ride up to the top, where the chomper lands on a large platform where the chains hung off of. Although it took several turns, Scanner's group is still ahead of everyone else by a few turns.
>>
No. 451695 ID: 886a4d

Welp this looks like the exit.

Careful of the Chomper though, he look irritated. If we're still in freeroam destroy the floor beneath him if he proves aggressive.
>>
No. 451700 ID: d6c330

...is the Chomper just sitting on the platform now? It won't pull us the rest of the way up by starting down the next chain? That's unfortunate.

Actually, it looks uncomfortable there, and aware or the grapple. We're in trouble if it tries to dislodge it.

The tricky bit is going to be climbing up and not getting attacked by it. If it's passive, fine, but if it's not, it can insta kill people. That's a problem.

Maybe if we climb up and retrieve the grapple, it'll resume eating chains and ignore us? ..but that requires initial trust, and being careful not to touch it.

So close! The light trail is right over there!
>>
No. 451706 ID: c7dc56

You probably want to quickly swing everyone to another chain before it dislodges the hook. If he doesn't dislodge it before going onto eat another chain, you can swing back and be pulled up through the hole has it goes down. If he does dislodge the hook, you can wait for it to choose a chain to eat and swing to the other as need be.
>>
No. 451712 ID: f2c20c

>>451689
I think we'll want to swing over to another chain.
>>
No. 451719 ID: 477c22

It looks so sad. Ask it if it can talk when you get up there. :V
>>
No. 451720 ID: 886a4d

>>451719
Lets pull an Alison and ask if it wants to escape with us.
>>
No. 451729 ID: f2c20c

I'm pretty sure it can't talk. It's like that Blue NPC we've seen a couple times. Not a full AI, just programmed to do a specific task. I think its eye just always looks like that.
>>
No. 451731 ID: 735f4f

It looks sort of sad and confused. Apologize for hooking it once you get up top. Can at least be civil with it and maybe make a friend.
>>
No. 451732 ID: 04b86a

Hold on, Scanner said it doesn't have any ability lines. Maybe it can't understand us. We should just offer it some CU and start gesturing for it to come with us.

We shall teach the System not to send anything with a mind after us!
>>
No. 451733 ID: 886a4d

>>451732
.... yes.
>>
No. 451768 ID: 26a7c1

>>451732
...

WE MUST DO IT
>>
No. 451789 ID: d6c330

While trying to recruit the monster is fantastically amusing, there is a small problem. You can't spend CU in stages, except in the floaty safe areas between rooms. Even if we give the chomper the CU it would need to buy the communication lines, it couldn't purchase.

...maybe we can use the grapple like a leash and lead it along the light trail to the safe area?

The biggest problem with recruiting it, of course, is that "Insta Kill" property. We'll never be able to hug it.
>>
No. 451790 ID: 886a4d

Safe zones are hug zones.
>>
No. 451812 ID: d6c330

>>451790
...test with persistence on, just to be safe.
>>
No. 451815 ID: f09b71
File 134682007141.png - (29.16KB , 700x700 , s6-68.png )
451815

Scanner swings to another chain and climbs up, looping the grappling hook underneath the platform.

She tosses a bag of some leftover CU, just 35, at him, motionion him to follow her. He flails around in a poor display of communication.

>Use persistence
She'll have to use that in a safe zone, since it not an active trait in the stage. 'Insta-Kill' is too vague of a term for her liking.

Scanner tells it to follow her, but it just confirms that if it can understand speech or talk, it isn't showing it.
>>
No. 451817 ID: 085efe

>>451815
Get NoPansy to remove the grappling hook, imply that he is, in fact, a pansy if he doesn't.
>>
No. 451818 ID: 886a4d

Have NoPansy leave, then Recluse, then Gaurdsman all the while Scanner backs away gesturing for it to follow.
>>
No. 451820 ID: d6c330

Well, if it has no communication lines, of course it can't understand!

...have Radmin try? System "speech" bypasses the communication lines, don't it?

It does seem somewhat distressed by the hook in it's side. It might be friendly if we remove it? Or it could attack, or just set off eating the next chain. We should only chance this if you can detach the hook at range, so we can get to the light trail ahead of it if it charges.
>>
No. 451822 ID: f09b71
File 134682068145.png - (16.19KB , 700x700 , s6-69.png )
451822

>Have Radmin talk to bypass communication
Radmin says it's just another form of chat, but people still need to have the ability to understand speech.

>Remove the hook, have N.P. do it
Scanner says that if NoPansy isn't a pansy, he--

NoPansy runs ahead and swipes the grappling hook off, saying that he's no pansy.
>>
No. 451824 ID: 04b86a

>flails around
He's a fish-like being in a freeroam area. Maybe he can't move on his own right now? That would be particularly cruel if true, although I guess we could remedy that with a water attack or something to wash it to the light trail.
>>
No. 451825 ID: 085efe

>>451822
Point at NoPansy, say go, then point at exit.
Wait for him to leave
Point at Recluse, say go, then point to exit.
Wait for him to leave
Point at monster, say go, then point at exit.
>>
No. 451826 ID: 886a4d

NoPansy just wormed his way into my heart...

Anyway, repeating this >>451818
>>
No. 451827 ID: bbee3d

Perhaps it can only travel along chains. It was doing just fine until it got to the top of this platform and ran out of links. Is it possible to pull one of the remaining chains up over the edge and make a path to the light trail?

Actually, if the chomper's gravity-defying abilities are flexible enough, it might be possible to just stick a link in its mouth and tow it around that way.
>>
No. 451828 ID: f2c20c

I don't think we're getting anywhere here.

Let's just go ahead. I'd like to note that its expression has not changed even once. Also, if we let it go first, the light trail will probably disappear. If we try to go on the light trail WITH it, it might instakill us just from bodily contact. It also, apparently, doesn't seem to even want to follow.

Remember how the Enforcers were made to not care about anything? I'm betting this thing is the same way.
>>
No. 451830 ID: d6c330

>He's NoPansy
Oh gods, he'll do anything if you dare him to. How did he survive this long?

Did removing that do anything? No more pained sad eyes? It's not attacking, or moving on to the next chain?

If it's good, do >>451825

>"" still needs comprehend speech.
Dang. Alison can't use that to bypass the mute in stage 10 or wherever now. We'll have to do a test in the safe zone to see if someone who sells off their comprehend skill can still understand the hand sign battle language we developed.
>>
No. 451838 ID: f09b71
File 134682174678.png - (38.82KB , 700x700 , s6-71.png )
451838

Scanner decides it will try to teach him how to go. She tells nopansy to go, pointing to the lighttrail, and he goes. Then recluse, then backs away herself, gesturing Chomper to follow while she says go.

It tries to flail in some awkward direction heading inbetween the chain and the exit, and scanner isn't sure she can lift what must be at least a hundred feet of chain. It is sort of technically heading to her, though.

>Did removing the grappling hook chain anything?
Scanner has a hard time believing that it even noticed the grappling hook.
>>
No. 451840 ID: 886a4d

Well nothing to do now but see if it follows. Did it pick up the CU?
>>
No. 451844 ID: 085efe

>>451840
It seems to be trying to. The most there is to do is either wait for it, or take a chance to see if instakill only applies to things it attacks, and push it to the exit
>>
No. 451845 ID: f2c20c

>>451838
It isn't even designed to move when not on a chain. This is just sad. We can't even touch it to try to drag it over; that will likely kill us.

We might be able to drag it with the grapple, but even if we help it out we won't be able to get it to the light trail and also exit, due to proximity issues.

What would we even do with a paralyzed deaf mute? We wouldn't even be able to take advantage of its instakill/invincibility tags. They are almost certainly unrefundable.
>>
No. 451848 ID: 886a4d

We can get it a body mod. And communication skills.
>>
No. 451849 ID: d6c330

>>451844
We don't have to push it. We could hook it again, and pull it into the light trail after us. Heck, if we hook it and then hop into the light trail, the light trail would do the pulling!

...watch the light trail deposit everyone on the same platform in the next room, and we all insta die from it.

Actually, radio ghost-call ahead, see if the next room is freeroam or platforms. If it's freeroam, we can risk towing it over the light trail.
>>
No. 451851 ID: 04b86a

He clearly just isn't made to move on land. If he wanted to go to a chain he could probably draw himself there, but other than that the best he can do is wriggle in a general direction. We're going to need to help him along, either by finding a way of pulling him with the grapple (I'd suggest having him hold the end with his teeth, but those things would probably cut right through the rope) or by somehow pushing him, probably by making a new weapon form since we're reluctant to touch him. I'd suggest a wave or jet of water, but I'm not sure that would provide enough force even with our weapon stat. Hmm... maybe an oil slick first? That would have other uses in freeroam, so I think we could afford to use to weapon forms here.
>>
No. 451852 ID: 886a4d

Oh! I know! its like the unformed blob everyone else started out as! Remember how once Alison got CU it was like her ability to think was unlocked? I bet thats whats happening here.

>>451849
Platforms expand in size so all can fit on them. You could see that clearly when we we're fighting the Enforcers and had 15 on one platform.
>>
No. 451853 ID: f09b71
File 134682274861.png - (21.23KB , 700x700 , s6-73.png )
451853

It did take the CU, but it won't be able to spend them until the next checkpoint, most likely this light trail.

Scanner waits another turn, and it is slowly maybe coming to her. She takes a step towards the light trail on the following turn, and chomper lets out a whine and starts slapping the platform.

>Call ahead
Just in time, Radmin says. The others made it to the next area, and it is the exit section. It does have platforms. Also he says that he thinks Scanner could totally pull it with the grappling hook.
>>
No. 451855 ID: 886a4d

Toss the grappling hook on to it and HEAVE!
>>
No. 451856 ID: d6c330

>Platforms expand in size so all can fit on them
Yes, I'm just worried that sharing a non-freeroam platform would trigger the insta kill.

>Toss the grappling hook on to it and HEAVE!
Let's at least warn people to clear the entry platform, so we only risk Scanner, not a party wipe.

Could we could pass a message to Smuggler? Ask if he knows how the insta kill trait works? Shopkeep always seemed to know those kinds of thing, he still might be able to explain it, even if he can't sell it.

>wine and slap
That's the first reaction we've gotten! He doesn't want to be left behind! ...or he's upset his meal is escaping.
>>
No. 451857 ID: f2c20c

I think it might want to eat you. Or it wants to go first.

This is incredibly risky! If it goes first then how are we going to ensure it doesn't block the platform on the other side so we get there only to be instakilled?
>>
No. 451859 ID: d6c330

The platform smacking might also be him trying to signal that he knows the platform will vanish when the last contestant leaves?
>>
No. 451864 ID: f2c20c

Oh, what novelty items does Guardsman have? If we have like, a pole or something we could push it without touching it.
>>
No. 451872 ID: f09b71
File 134682419547.png - (33.12KB , 700x700 , s6-73(2).png )
451872

Scanner asks if the Guardsman has a pole or something. Guardsman says he has his SWORD, which can be a pole. Especially for something that is invincible. He's not a pansy either, so he's willing to push the toothy thing at the light trail. Or Scanner can just grapple it. Everyone thinks that she can get him on the light trail fight, it's just a matter of if she WANTS to. Radmin says it is completely worth the risk, in his professional opinion.
>>
No. 451875 ID: f2c20c

>>451872
...gulp.

Well. Try it.
>>
No. 451876 ID: 886a4d

Lets go with plan Heave and Ho!

... even if it is incredibly dangerous.
>>
No. 451878 ID: d6c330

...oh Gaurdsman, love yah.

Radmin thought suicide by cop Alison was worth it. Not sure his judgement is worth much.

Oh well. Warn everyone to clear the entrance, just in case, and then push it through.

...there was a safe zone between the rooms, right? So it can come out the other side with communication?
>>
No. 451880 ID: 085efe

Pull with the grappling hook, while guardsman pushes with a pole.
>>
No. 451881 ID: bf54a8

let's do this! LEROOOOOOOOY JENKIIIIIINS
>>
No. 451882 ID: f09b71
File 134682509790.png - (106.60KB , 700x700 , s6-74.png )
451882

Scanner asks, by relay, Smuggler how insta-kill works if he knows. Smuggler, who is nearby Alison, says that he never did know abilities or traits except on an as-needed basis. Therefore, he wouldn't know about insta-kill unless he was summoned, as a shopkeep, to deal with something involving it.

With that bit of non-info, Scanner grapples the chomper, jumps through the light trail, and they start sailing towards the final area with the checkpoint spending areas that were once significant.

Chomper says it wants chains. It has to find more chains to eat, and has to follow its designated players and eat their chains. It also thanks scanner for the CU, but it is so hungry. For chains.
>>
No. 451883 ID: 886a4d

Chainlinks as a weapon would solve that. Give it to him but don't hold on. As long as we feed it (get some tier 2s in Dream Land to start making them) we can call it friend.

Since Gaurdsman probably has all his weapon slots right now he can feed it.
>>
No. 451885 ID: f2c20c

>>451882
Oh gosh. I THOUGHT it was weird how it started chomping up Guardsman's chain for the second pass. It seemed like it wasn't just a coincidence... Also this is really creepy.

Ask it who assigned the designated player. We can make some chains, I think, at the blacksmith... Or Guardsman could make some chain armor and give that to the thing, it being 'his' chains. I doubt that it will ever be not-hungry though.
>>
No. 451888 ID: d6c330

That's fine! We're happy to let him keep following after us. And we can try and find you some chains to eat, too.

Maybe we could introduce you to some other foods too. Cookies are pretty great, actually. The best.

>Give Gaurdsman a chainlink weapon form
>chomper follows Gaurdsman around forever
>Chained bow-wow and sword fighting style.

This is clearly the best plan ever.
>>
No. 451890 ID: f09b71
File 134682640099.png - (50.02KB , 899x631 , s6-75.png )
451890

Scanner says, and tells Radmin to tell Alison this, that there will be chains where she is going. She then asks Chomper who the designated players are, and it replies explaining that whoever was around in the room. So Scanner, Guardsman, NoPansy and Recluse.

Guardsman will also make a chain weapon in the meanwhile. Mouse asks Chomper how the insta-kill works, and the answer is that it means that all attacks it does deals infinite HP.

There is a familiar converging section as the finishing area that Scanner remembers a time was once intimidating. Guardsman remembers it too.
>>
No. 451891 ID: 085efe

>>451890
Ask Chomper if he'd be fine waiting here, otherwise it might be best to continue on with the rest of the group staying behind.
>>
No. 451892 ID: 886a4d

Everyone to the center platform between NoPansy and Bandit.

It's time for Overloading!

Ask if Chomper wants to wait with us or go the safe zone. Gambler or NoPansy can go with him to feed him chains if he wants to do that. I doubt NoPansy will actually go to the safe zone with everyone else staying behind though.
>>
No. 451894 ID: f2c20c

Did we lose even a single person?
>>
No. 451896 ID: d6c330

Yay! Everyone's alive! ...and we have an invincible, super powerful new pet friend.

Okay. Pretty simple. We move to block the exit. We have everyone who arrives pile up on one platform, away from the exit. Anyone who tries to leave early gets chomped. When everyone alive has shown up (or the clock is close to running out), we allow everyone to move to the exit platform, and overload all at once.

When King's people start showing up, the should cooperate, since he plans on an overload as well. Problems might include people rushing the exits, or if King decides he only wants to save people from our two factions, not everyone.
>>
No. 451897 ID: f2c20c

It occurs to me that we cannot ensure a secure exit unless we have an equal number of people guarding as there are piling up in front.

How about an alternate solution. We have the first 100 players (including Chomper) sit in front of the exit and have our T3 dudes kill and absorb everyone that comes in who isn't part of King's group or our group. Latecomers who are allied with us get to just stick around and wait until we overload. Yes, it's like CU farming, except that everyone gets to live in Alison's dream afterwards. Not in our base, just the outskirts, but still.

We should actually manage to get at least a million CU out of it too.
>>
No. 451898 ID: 04b86a

Overloading time! I'm seconding gathering everyone onto the platform between where Bandit and NoPansy are now. I think NoPansy should stay here and have Mako protect him every turn, though, so that people don't think we're playing favourites by letting him go on.

Rules
1) If anyone not in our group gets one platform away from the exit, they die.
2) If anyone not in our group attacks someone without provocation, they die.
3) If a group of people decide to swarm the exit thinking we can't kill all of them, Mako, Scanner, or Clarence drop a bomb on them when they reach the last platform to prove them wrong.

And, you know, if several unscanable people isn't enough to keep people in line I'm sure Bow-Wow's Chomper's presence will show we aren't to be messed with.

By the way, I think Alison may as well get the CU farm I proposed here >>/questdis/59513 started, since there's no use waiting. Preferably before the System realizes where we are and figures out how to monitor us while there.
>>
No. 451938 ID: d6c330

>>451898
>new CU farming plan.

Problem: Can you do that in the dream world? I'm not sure if it counts as a safe zone (so persistence would work), or if gloves or attacks are even usable asleep. Might have to be put off until we get to the S7 safe zone.
>>
No. 451939 ID: 085efe

>>451938
Or, as Alison has tons of tier two people for whom there is no difference between being alive and being dead, it could be tested out with one of them.
>>
No. 452736 ID: f09b71
File 134713434582.png - (13.55KB , 700x700 , s6-75(2).png )
452736

Scanner counts the numbers, and no one was lost. Alison tells her to begin saving as many people through overloading.
Chomper is willing to wait as long as he can keep eating guardsman's weapon.

Shopkeep shows up, and says there was a little forgotten message. Bombs have been removed, due to being explosions of problems.

In the meanwhile, Scanner, through Radmin, wants to know if it is actually necessary to overload as many people as possible. Mathematician says there would be a minimum of about 2508 people through the attack dummies, though with any consistency of teamwork, that may be about 5,000. It is hard to tell how many people would have gotten killed from each room, but around half of those survivors likely won't be part of either Alison's or King's group. Either way, it is still a lot.
Considering that the stages won't be able to be overloaded soon, Recluse also may think it would be better to absorb all of the people not under Alison or King, as otherwise they will almost certainly die later on and may not have a chance to be absorbed by someone who has a chance to get through.
Duelist does note though, that if King is cooperative to overloading, then between him and Alison's group, the latter of whom is hopefully trustworthy overall, there will be a good chance to contain enough independents to overload if Alison still wishes to do that.
>>
No. 452738 ID: 886a4d

I say we only kill those not willing to cooperate. We'll be overloading the stage anyway thanks to King. Those who do cooperate will be given the recruitment speech of course.
>>
No. 452753 ID: 04b86a

>Nukes Bombs have been removed from inventories
Ah, well, that's not that big of a deal.

>Recluse thinks it would be better to absorb rather than overload
It's nice to see his principles are still intact. We'd prefer as many people as possible to still be alive, but he has a point and thanks to Glitcher being dead but in Alison's absorption chain is about as good as being alive anyway.

Let's ask people to stay here to overload the exit, and then kill anyone who declines. It's not very nice, but nice is, sadly, a luxury here.

I think we should also start thinking about who we should invite into the city. It sounds like it's large enough that we could invite as many people as we want right now, but if we do that then we're bound to end up with troublemakers. I guess we'd have to set up investigative and judicial teams to deal with any complaints and let Alison know when someone needs to be kicked out.
>>
No. 452754 ID: f2c20c

>>452736
Let's allow King's group and our group to pass. Everyone else should be absorbed, unless we find someone particularly interesting that we'd like to keep in the field.
>>
No. 452756 ID: 4a328b

Everyone who is willing to play nice gets to pass, with the option of being absorbed or invited to the city. People who don't want to play nice get absorbed.
>>
No. 452757 ID: d6c330

>Bombs have been removed
That's fine, they were kind of a chaotic mess. Wait, did we even have any left? If so, I expect a CU refund, Shopkeep. That, or a trade in for alternate tier 3 items.

>Absorb or pass?
Well, now we have a question of what's the greater moral imperative. Is it more right to save lives now in the hope that they will then be willing to join with us, or to forcibly absorb them to preserve them and their recursive chains as long as possible?

Collector Recluse has a point in that a slaughter here preserves the most souls. I'd kind of prefer to win people over by saving everyone, though. Despite the fact there are going to be holdouts, and it's going to be a lot harder to herd several thousand people out at once, especially since they could rush us at that point.

Aside: we need to put protector on Chomper as soon as we get the chance. Protector + invincible = win.
>>
No. 452758 ID: 886a4d

Pity Glitcher is still asleep, with his god abilities we could give Alison Invincibility and Insta-Kill now we know they are traits that can be had. Take that CAI.
>>
No. 452773 ID: 39ecbe

>>452758
It's likely that those abilities would get patched if excessively abused, though. Like Resurrection did.
>>
No. 452783 ID: 886a4d

Thats why we only have it on Alison (and Chomper) Keep it relatively hidden until the very end. Recluse, Mako and Chomper protect her even when she doesn't need it for example.
>>
No. 452784 ID: 04b86a

>>452758
The problem with the CAI fight is that we'll be fighting a group of at least three people who can each hack things at least as well as Glitcher can. Little things like Insta-Kill and Invincibility aren't going to amount to much unless we can take out that edge.
>>
No. 452786 ID: 886a4d

>>452784
True enough. But it wouldn't hurt. What really needs to happen is for Glitcher to glitch Alison's entire house so they ARE all CAI level hackers. 1800 outnumbers 3 heh.
>>
No. 452791 ID: d6c330

>>452784
The CAI fight probably isn't even fair. They can probably change the rules mid fight. Like, as soon the the battle starts, removing the capacity to attack. And then re-enabling bombs and each member of the collective lobbing one at us.

Keeping invincibility a secret won't work. Hell, there's even odds the CAI rigs the game by tagging itself with it.

>>452786
There's gonna be more than 3 people in the CAI. Less than a trillion, but more than 3.
>>
No. 452795 ID: f2c20c

>>452791
I thought about the CAI tagging itself with invincibility as well.

What I think we want to do is abuse the fuck out of invincibility and instakill, so that the system has to remove them. Then the stages can't have more Comper-like creatures in it, and the CAI can't use it either!
>>
No. 452796 ID: 886a4d

>>452791
Could be... but you gotta remember the way this CAI generator is set up. The System is managing the Contest so that a bare minimum passes, which we know from Alison's Logs is three. My guess is that the original winners of that very first contest were in fact Glitcher, Corrupter and the Saviour. As for the winners of the System it is currently unknown if the very first run-through they did manage to have a team pass. I doubt it though since the books state that it was impossible for them to succeed.
>>
No. 452801 ID: 6a1ec2

>>452784

Hey. Hey Alison. If you are part of a CAI training program then the objects who succeed are the ones who are good at hacking. Like Glitcher. The game is therefore in place for you to break, and only then will you be considered a success and not reboot. It's difficult to do so because the objects who are dumb and not capable of doing gratuitous exploitation of any system they are in will get weeded out. To win the game without breaking it is to fail as a CAI, and so you must reboot. You're not dumb Alison, so stop playing around in those silly stages, and go jetting around in voidspace or something.

Also tell Chomper that the 100 sign looks delicious. I bet he could eat it.
>>
No. 452803 ID: 04b86a

>>452786
>>452791
There's definitely more than three personalities in the CAI, but at the same time there's only three people with special abilities in the contest so the rest are probably ghosts the CAI might be able to summon to help out if they need it, and even then they'll probably only be at contestant level instead of CAIs themselves.

>>452796
On the subject of Corruptor, Glitcher, and Savior, I'm starting to wonder if the differences we've seen in their abilities aren't just in their heads instead of the results of partial copying after the first reboot. In other words, the Corruptor only breaks things because that's what he was originally interested in doing and was the first thing he did, so he doesn't realize that he can do more, and the same with the Savior. We still need the Glitcher, of course, but more than that I think we need to get the Corruptor and the Savior to reconcile so that we can tell them they're both gods without them destroying everything trying to annihilate each other.
>>
No. 454176 ID: f09b71
File 134753448425.png - (41.69KB , 700x700 , s6-75(3).png )
454176

Shopkeep will give a refund for any bombs remaining. Which was only 1, he believes.

Scanner is told by Alison to let themselves, King and his group, and everyone who plays nice to pass through. Otherwise, to simply absorb everyone else who appear, to the best of Scanner's ability, to be uncooperative or outright hostile.

First, though, Scanner asks Chomper what it thinks of that 100 sign. It says it could probably eat the sign. It does look almost like a chain if Chomper crosses his eyes together really hard, and that makes Chomper want to eat it.

Alison knows thinking about the long term CAI fight and other things are important, but right now she is focused on the current stage.
>>
No. 454177 ID: 4a328b

On the one hand I wanna say EAT IT

on the other hand EAT IT
>>
No. 454182 ID: 085efe

>>454176
I still think it should be worth letting Chomper go on ahead, with an invite to Alison's sanctuary, where they might be able to help him better.

All he serves as here is an example of intimidation, or a sign how Alison's group recruits anything and everything.

He's stronger than Alison's group, but compared to pretty much everyone else? Alison's people other than Gambler might as well already be instakilling invulnerable monsters.
>>
No. 454184 ID: f09b71
File 134753640970.png - (90.85KB , 700x700 , s6-80.png )
454184

Guardsman says to eat it and so does Scanner.

Everyone else says why not, and it still won't be too late to have Chomper go ahead and finish the stage if desired.

Chomper chomps.
>>
No. 454185 ID: f09b71
File 134753645434.png - (47.03KB , 899x631 , s6-81.png )
454185

The stage didn't explode or anything, although Pepper does show up. Or maybe it's Mint. She asks how.
>>
No. 454187 ID: 4a328b

How he ate the stage sign?

He's a chain chomp from the challenge this stage. It's what he does.
>>
No. 454193 ID: 085efe

>>454185
After getting past the chains (which we did so without cutting the chains) Chomper wasn't attacking, so we offered him cu, and tried to use nonverbal communication to get him to follow us.

Also, since the sign was just destroyed, explain that this was the 100 person funnel, and no one has gone through yet, though, we might let chomper out, so we can start working on dealing with his hunger sooner.
>>
No. 454197 ID: f09b71
File 134754037665.png - (47.02KB , 899x631 , s6-82.png )
454197

Scanner explains that he ate the sign because he is the chomper. Pepper says yes, she knows, she just ran passed one after one of her allies tried to attack the chomper in her section. Neither had scan to tell that they apparently instantly kill. So Scanner says that since she is under Alison, it is her duty to offer him CU and get him to follow her in a possible alliance.

Pepper thanks scanner for the explanation. After Scanner gets her up to speed on current events, Pepper says that King will probably be coming with enough people to help overload the stage without any nasty events. It'll probably help get Alison and King more recruits all around. She defends King, saying that while his words may be heavy handed, and he clearly prefers being at the top and in control, he does prefer allies over enemies as well.

Chomper says that he'll go through if Scanner wants, and Alison knows of his existence enough to invite him to the dream place. The problem is, Scanner notes to Alison, that if that if he heads on through, he won't actually be in the stage 7 safe zone until stage 6 is finished. Which could be an extremely long time, depending on what the time limit is. Unless Scanner is wrong.
>>
No. 454201 ID: 1987d1

Let's keep Chomper with us. IF he leaves, he just gets caught in the time skip between stages and shows up in the safe zone at the same time as everyone else.

Besides, he's got invincible and insta-kill. Dude will be pretty handy holding up our bottle neck here. And regular people will be intimidated we managed to recruit one of the monsters they just made it past. He's also a rather nice visual for Alison's commitment to save everybody. Even stage generated monsters.

Invite Pepper on over.
>>
No. 454202 ID: 085efe

>>454197
If he wouldn't be able to get to the sanctuary any faster than otherwise possible, it may be best for him to stay where there are others to support him.
>>
No. 454203 ID: 4a328b

>>454197
Might as well wait for everyone, then. Keep feeding him weaponchain, for now. If he gets too hungry he can head on through to the stasis before Stage 7

King's probably a swell guy but the last time she worked under someone ended badly

Speaking of there's probably a houselord who hates her guts coming up in the next safe zone, assuming he survives the stage.
>>
No. 454208 ID: 886a4d

Isn't the period between the safe-zone and the stage considered to be a safe-zone as well? We can always test it later I guess though.
>>
No. 454213 ID: f09b71
File 134754460378.png - (52.21KB , 899x631 , s6-90.png )
454213

>Isn't the period between the safe-zone and the stage considered to be a safe-zone as well? We can always test it later I guess though.
It may work if there is a room between stage and safe zone, but most stages have not had those. If it does not have one, then everyone shows up at the main safe zone at the same time, and someone who left the stage early may have the perspective of no time passing, when in fact a lot of time could have passed in reality.

Guardsman feeds Chomper the chainmeal for the time being, and 8 turns pass when people start showing up steadily. King arrives at the same time as Mint.

He does agree, as expected, to help overload the stage.

A few more turns pass when others show up, usually one at a time, and other than King's cyclops bot, none of them are part of Alison's nor King's team. They are all told the conditions, and they seem cooperative, until one more person shows up, who has also tamed a Chomper.

He says everyone better back away and let him get through the entrance.
>>
No. 454215 ID: 085efe

>>454213
scan his chomper, explain to him that his chomper doesn't have range (unless, I guess, it does), so he will die, before it can do things to anyone.

Tell him to stay still or die.

Have healer set to attack him. If he moves forward 1, he dies.

Alternatively,

Say you found a flaw in his plan, and have healer or recluse red glove him.
>>
No. 454216 ID: e3f578

So show off your tamed chomper.
And call him stupid, we're overloading the stage exits. He'll get out too dumbass, just follow the conditions and we're all good. Ain't no threatening needed to be involved unless he makes it so.
>>
No. 454217 ID: 085efe

Alternatively, Clarence, remove the space in front of him.

I like this plan, even if it shows that Alison's party is RIDICULOUS.
>>
No. 454218 ID: 1987d1

Welp, Scanner scan. Let's make sure that's actually a Chomper and not a shapeshift.

This presents a problem. We could let him through and still overload, but theoretically more people with Chompers could show up than there are exits available (only 50 in 10,000 would have to tame one to do so). That means we need a strategy to deal with them.

We're tier 3's with range, we can easily take out comper-tamers before they get close enough to use their allies. Problem is, will the chomper continue to attack once it's alone? Because we can't kill them. At least with attacks. Platform Cancellation might work.

No. We're not letting anyone through, yet. We're overloading the stage. And we're not scared of your Chomper, we befriended one of our own (Chomper, say hello to Chomper!).

If he refuses to deal- kill him at range, block the Chomper's advancement by cutting the light trail. If it stays hostile, and we (or our Chomper) can't talk it down, we drop it's platform.
>>
No. 454219 ID: 085efe

>Let's make sure that's actually a Chomper and not a shapeshift.

Impossible.

One, that's a tier two power. Those should not be showing up yet.

Two, Alison's people would be immune to that, and not see it.
>>
No. 454224 ID: 1987d1

>>454219
Can't tier 2 be bought from regular shopkeeps? That's accessible to a normal contestant who was especially fortunate in his CU acquisition. And shapeshift could have been accessed via shop or chest.

Also, I think we only ever tested shapeshift in the corrupted sanctuary. Maybe tier 3s can see through shifts in a safe zone, but what if they can't in stages?
>>
No. 454225 ID: f09b71
File 134754670433.png - (55.38KB , 899x631 , s6-92.png )
454225

Scanner scans. He's got 5 inventory slots, and three of them have glove scissors. He is maximum tier 1, aside from no banditry, and is likely saving up for tier 2.

Clarence and Healer move forward. Clarence acts to remove the platform, and on the next turn, after the movement phase, it disappears. Scanner says there are flaws with his plans. A lot of them. Chomper's don't have range, they don't have protect, knockback would still work, and the space in front of him is getting removed. Also, any one of Alison's bunch could red glove him to death, since they have more red gloves than he has scissors.

The Tamer wants to know what the hell. He starts brandishing a chain weapon and tells Alison's Chomper, Chomper A, to come to him. Guardsman, in return, starts brandishing his bigger chain weapon and Chomber B wants to move to guardsman to eat his because his is better. Tamer is pissed. Chomper A doesn't want to share guardsman's chain, and Chomper B says he'll fight Chomper A for it.

The shopkeep shows up. He wants to know what is going on over here there are so many red flags coming up in this room that he was expecting a bullfighting battle royale.
>>
No. 454228 ID: 1987d1

Hello shopkeep. Did your locket persist after your de- and re- summoning?

>Why so many flags, where's the battle royal
What flags are you noticing in particular? We're just trying to overload the stage. We told you that's what we were planning. Was it breaking the sign? Sorry, we just wanted to see what would happen.

>Chomper A vs Chomper B
You guys are both invincible and insta kill! Either nothing would happen or you'd both die. Chill out, there will be plenty of chains waiting when we clear the stage.
>>
No. 454229 ID: 085efe

>>454225
Tell Shopkeep a couple of us had befriended chompers, and taken them along with us. Tamer was using his to try and barge through, while we were explaining the flaws in his plan.

Ask if there is a way to set the Chompers as a normal contestant, without the chain hunger. Even if this means they have to lose the unkillable and instant kill traits, because that's totally reasonable.
>>
No. 454230 ID: e3f578

>Shopkeep floats between two aggressive chompers that want each other's food
>Comedy will likely ensue
Scanner, tell shopkeep to watch out.
Or not, he's shopkeep, he can die and we can giggle under our breaths while he comes back a second later.
>>
No. 454234 ID: f09b71
File 134754939949.png - (55.22KB , 899x631 , s6-93.png )
454234

Scanner explains, and asks if there is a way to set the Chompers as normal contestant, but shopkeep wouldn't know. He's pretty sure they became disconnected as soon as they left their rooms. Scanner also tells Shopkeep he might want to move in case the chompers do try and fight each other.

>Did the locket persist?
It did not.

>What flags is shopkeep noticing?
Chompers mostly, also the sign is broken, and he is in no way supposed to tell anyone that the exit mechanic uses the sig

Guardsman tells Chomper A to calm down, as with Chomper B.

King is willing to give 2 red gloves to the cause of getting rid of this guy.
>>
No. 454235 ID: 1987d1

>no locket
Dang, changes to the instances don't propagate back to the master.

>no way supposed to tell anyone that the exit mechanic uses the sig
The stage can't count people going by anymore? We can just let everyone walk out without having to worry about overloading all at once? That's convenient!

...too convenient. Shopkeep, you're not just bluffing to try and get us to leave without bothering to overload, are you?

(If there's no reason to overload all at once, we can let everyone go by, even the tamer. We just have to hang around long enough to police people going by into being nice, and saving any ghosts that happen).
>>
No. 454236 ID: 085efe

Ask Radmin or Supervisor if the signs are the limiter on people leaving.
>>
No. 454237 ID: f09b71
File 134755226925.png - (46.53KB , 700x700 , s6-93(2).png )
454237

>Ask Radmin or Supervisor if the signs are the limiter on people leaving.
That's new to them, but they also don't know if the signs aren't limiters. It has never came up before.

Scanner inquires to shopkeep that that is very convenient, and hopes he is not bluffing. Shopkeep says even though he is on the system side, he still would have a difficult time lying to Alison and Friends.
>>
No. 454238 ID: 085efe

I believe shopkeep, but think it would be just as well to leave the way we were planning in the first place.

If for nothing else, than to assure people who might not believe shopkeep.
>>
No. 454240 ID: 1987d1

Well, technically he wouldn't be supposed to tell us that whether it was true or not (he's not supposed to give out secret information, or lie to players). So it wouldn't be a lie. But it might be a clever way to influence our behavior.

But... yeah, I trust shopkeep. And if the sign destruction triggered a system flag it's more than likely significant. Normal players aren't even able to hurt the signs, are they?

Question is now, do we change our behavior? It's pretty easy to let everyone past now, even the jerks.
>>
No. 454250 ID: 4a328b

Eh, I say we keep on going the same way--but it is interesting to keep in mind. If there's a sign we can destroy, we might be able to get past the "no overloading" future stages, after all.
>>
No. 454264 ID: 886a4d

They will probably be gates instead of exits but its a nice thought. Still ask Tamer if hes willing to listen to reason. We'll insist he stays where he is but he'll be allowed to catch up before we all leave. We are planning on overloading the exit. If he still refuses red glove him to death then have healer or someone else also make chains for his chomper..
>>
No. 454274 ID: 04b86a

I swear, you go to sleep one time after days of no updates and suddenly there's, like, 30 updates by the time you wake up.

>most stages don't have rooms between Stage and Safe Zone.
Only the ones that teleported us didn't normally have intermediary rooms, and the one that did gave us a time skip and was obviously just there to give us some books to read through.

>Chompers don't want to share
We have several Tier 3s with available weapon forms here, we can afford to make another chain.

>Red glove duel the tamer to death
I think it would be a bit smarter to make a light trail to his platform so that someone with T3 Range can kill him.

Of course, that's assuming we want to kill him. He's obviously resourceful, so it might be better to get him to join us. Ask him what he plans on doing about the reality warpers that are going to kill everyone who get's past Stage 11, that should shake him up a bit.

>and he is in no way supposed to tell anyone that the exit mechanic uses the sig
Huh! The wording of that implies he was specifically told that, despite the fact that he wouldn't have known without being told not to tell and knowing it isn't crucial to his job. That inclines me to believe him, although I still prefer to stick to our current plan. Besides, if we abuse it it'll probably get patched, so we may as well save that trick for later.
>>
No. 454275 ID: 1987d1

>make more chains
I'm pretty sure we can only make new weapon forms in safe zones, just like CU expenditures, making armor forms, and swapping outfits. No new chains till we clear.

If we really want to get rid of those two (because they won't play nice), simplest way is to use remove platform. It should have a range of 2.
>>
No. 454277 ID: 886a4d

... Gaurdsman just made them just as he entered this part of the stage... after the checkpoint. Weapon forms seem to not matter in that regard.

Oh hah I just had a thought, Gaurdsman has double offence he can make two chains at the same time.
>>
No. 454281 ID: b6edd6

The bit about patching is a good point. We should overload the normal way while we can in order to avoid drawing attention to the possible exploit.
>>
No. 454284 ID: f2c20c

>>454237
Alright. If there's no limiter anymore, we can let everyone through. EVERYONE. I don't care if they're hostile anymore, we can deal with them later.

That guy with the other chomper was uncooperative but not hostile, I'd like to note. He wanted a path through, not to eat everyone.

I think from here on we could just have a few of our stronger units hang around, letting everyone through, and kill anyone who attacks us.

Or if Shopkeep has to fix the sign we could just rush the exit now before it counts.
>>
No. 454286 ID: 085efe

Have King and his people been scanned? We should probably do so.
>>
No. 454558 ID: f09b71
File 134765515988.png - (103.20KB , 1631x600 , s6-93(3).png )
454558

>Scan King and Others
Scanner notes them for future reference. Cyclops bot is also part of King's team, but he is only a maximized tier 1.

The method will stay the same just in case, so Scanner will wait.

Alison is considering what to do about tamer. She thinks about removing that light trail too if she wants to absorb him. Arbiter says that would work, but that would also instantly kill anyone who happens to land on that platform while arriving.

Guardsman says he has a range of 2. He should be able to attack through disabled trails. Alison just has to give the word, as even if he isn't outright hostile, he may be problematic later.
>>
No. 454559 ID: 886a4d

If he is continuing to be hostile then kill him. Hell didn't Gambler get upgraded to full tier 2? I remember that being mentioned. He should have enoughr range to kill him now without moving.
>>
No. 454561 ID: 4a328b

>>454558
Look, tamer. A show of strength IS a valid strategy--just not when you're much weaker than the guys you're going up against. We're not going to let you pass through unchallenged now, but we'll be nice and give you some options. You can either join King or Alison's team (doesn't much matter to us which), or you can be absorbed right here and be out of the contest--but probably more safe than if you keep going like this, frankly.
>>
No. 454563 ID: 4a328b

>>454561
We do like the creativity showed with taming the chomper, though. Good work.
>>
No. 454569 ID: 085efe

>>454559
seconding this.
>>
No. 454570 ID: 1987d1

Let's make one last effort to talk tamer into overloading peaceably. If he doesn't comply, kill him with range. Don't risk collateral damage with a platform drop, or waste red gloves if we don't have too.

If we do kill him though, we're left with the problem of his chomper. We only have one chain, and they don't want to share. Also, the only means we have to harm one of them is via platform drops.
>>
No. 454576 ID: f09b71
File 134765723823.png - (89.56KB , 700x700 , s6-93(4).png )
454576

Alison talks through Scanner to say that if he joins Alison or King, he won't be killed, otherwise there are at least two people with enough range to kill, gambler of which does not even need to move.

He says no, he's seen leaders and their promises and doesn't trust anyone cept himself.
>>
No. 454577 ID: f09b71
File 134765725120.png - (54.86KB , 899x631 , s6-94.png )
454577

Gambler kills him, and Recluse absorbs. A group of 4 comes in, all from King's side. They're brought up to speed.

King says that as a precaution, he would like to send some of his better guys through, and to be fair, offers Alison the same proportion to send through as well just in case. Not many, just about 20 total perhaps, then overload the remaining exits with however many thousand make it.

Chomper B still wants to eat guardsman's chain.
>>
No. 454579 ID: 6a1ec2

OK you probably fucked up in killing Tamer, no matter how belligerent he was. Now the Chompers are going to blow up the arena by chomping each other over the one guy who has a chain.
>>
No. 454580 ID: 4a328b

>>454577
Eh, we'd rather wait and have everyone go at once to promote the idea that we're all in it together, if he gets us. If you're nervous, though, you can go be a line of defense along with Scanner and the chain chomps. :P
>>
No. 454583 ID: 4a328b

Get another T3 to make a chain weapon for that other chomper.

Also greet Tamer in dead-man's land
>>
No. 454584 ID: 1987d1

Alison, greet Tamer as he shows up surprised at the dream house! Apologize for having to kill him.

>send a few ahead as a precaution
Against what? The overload not working? That's fair, I suppose. We already have the majority of our (non tier 3s) safe anyways via dream safe-house stage bypassing. If Shopkeep was right, it shouldn't matter anyways, as we broke this level's limiter / counter. We're only overloading all at once out of caution.

>Chomper B
...we could kill it with a platform drop, or keep it at bay with knock-backs. Let's try talking with it first.

Explain that we're making chains for them to eat in the safe zone. If he proceeds through the light trail peacefully, there will be plenty of chains for all. He doesn't need to fight Chomper A for Gaurdsman's chain.
>>
No. 454588 ID: f09b71
File 134765866372.png - (95.70KB , 700x700 , s6-94(2).png )
454588

>Get another tier 3 to make a chain weapon
All of Alison's people have already made it through the last checkpoint, so the only way to get more chains is to get someone through the checkpoint.

Scanner tells Chomper B that there are chains being made in Alison's house.

Alison tells king she'd rather do it all at once, since they're all in it together. He shrugs, saying that's fine. At the same time, he is also saying it is dangerous to keep the two chompers together. He knows it sounds like he just wants a chomper for himself, and that is partially true, but he doesn't want to find out what happens if they attack each other at Alison's place. He does honestly think they should be kept seperate. Since he is cooperative with Alison, it shouldn't be much different, practically speaking, if he had custody of one. He'll make chains for them, of course.

Tamer is in the dream, but not at the house itself. She still sends him a message of apology for having to kill him, but there is no response.

Chomper B and A say that they'll go whereever there are chains, and won't fight each other as long as there are enough.
>>
No. 454589 ID: 4a328b

>>454588
Chomper B, you heard the man, you down with that?

We'll keep Chomper A since three of the people he's supposed to follow are ours.
>>
No. 454590 ID: 886a4d

Gaurdsman should be able to feed two Chompers the same amount of chain thanks to double offence. Or another tier 3 could make new chains. Or we could have him pass on through to the safe zone where Alison will have chain ready for him. Lots of options.
>>
No. 454591 ID: 4a328b

We might have to start getting creative here if a THIRD person tames a chomper, but keeping them apart is probably wise.
>>
No. 454592 ID: b1423b

Wait a second... What if a Chomper attacks another Chomper? Insta-Kill meets Invulnerability. Irresistable force meets immovable object. Hmmmm.
>>
No. 454593 ID: 4a328b

>>454592
Let's wait and see if Bones has a chomper before we try testing this, though xD
>>
No. 454596 ID: 1987d1

>>454592
That's exactly what King is afraid of. ...we should have asked Shopkeep about that when he was here.

Splitting custody of the two Chompers sounds perfectly reasonable to me. (You know, assuming they're cool with that).

If it's two dangerous to keep them both here at the moment, just send one on ahead.
>>
No. 454597 ID: 886a4d

King having access to something that can insta-kill anyone makes me a tad leary. Still distrusting your ally is a sure way to make him a future enemy. All we have to do is trump him by making our Chomper the best Chomper he can be. With protect, range and bounce.
>>
No. 454599 ID: 4a328b

>>454596
Oh, yeah. Ask if King has a way to contact his allies before they pass the checkpoint--if not, get Chomper A to go on ahead so that he and Chomper B don't have to be on the same platform at any point.
>>
No. 454604 ID: f09b71
File 134766162173.png - (53.35KB , 899x631 , s6-95.png )
454604

>Ask if King has a way to contact his allies before they pass the checkpoint
He does not. Only a fraction of his units have ghost talk, and though he is employing that in the same manner of Alison, no one with ghost talk has yet come through. Eventually this will be done.

>Double offense
He still only has one chain, although it is twice as long. He could make that chain long enough such that both chompers are at either end, but if they chomp too fast, then they will meet each other in a possibly explosive, awkward kiss of science.

Alison asks Chomper A, guardsman and King if she sends them through now due to their circumstances, despite just asying they're all in it together. King agrees, although would insist that Pepper gets through as well, and she will make a chain weapon for Chomper B who will go with her.

Both Chompers are alright with this plan, as well as Chomper B being fine with going with King. As long as there are chains.
>>
No. 454607 ID: 886a4d

Alright send 'em through.
>>
No. 454613 ID: 6e44d2

Move along.
>>
No. 454614 ID: 1987d1

Right, go with that plan. Seems reasonable. Talk to you later, King. We'll make sure all your people who show up make it through the overload.

>then they will meet each other in a possibly explosive, awkward kiss of science.
This is possibly the greatest thing I have ever read.
>>
No. 454615 ID: f09b71
File 134766263879.png - (109.21KB , 700x700 , s6-96.png )
454615

Guardsman and Chomper go through. Chomper says someone said something about freeroam needing a better body and that kind of makes sense since it was so hard to move off of the chain in that room. He can move okay so long as there is a chain but maybe he should get a better body so it is easier to get to a chain.

He he doesn't know if he should have the normal 2 arms or if he should be a real boy or girl or something or what clothes or he just has no idea it is all so new to Chomper.
>>
No. 454616 ID: 4a328b

If he gets some stronger, longer arms or lots of stronger arms [with fingers and stuff for gripping] he can probably scramble around just fine

Like a chaincentipede or chainspider or something like that
>>
No. 454618 ID: 6e44d2

He should take a male human form. We don't have a single one of those.
>>
No. 454619 ID: f2c20c

>>454615
Hmm. I'm thinking shark-morph.
>>
No. 454620 ID: 04b86a

While a different body would let him do a lot more things than he can right now, couldn't he float around by getting double jump?
>>
No. 454623 ID: 886a4d

I think hes still working off of the 35 CU we gave him plus whatever finishing the stage. Which probably is just enough for a body.

I was thinking either a shark morph or a walking maw.
>>
No. 454633 ID: 1987d1

Well, he's probably going to want legs (or a snake tail, or some alternative means of locomotion) to walk move around with, at least, so he's not stuck flopping like before.

As for the rest, he should go with whatever shape makes him comfortable! It's kind of an expression of self, we can't tell him if he should be a boy or girl or whatever. If it's too much pressure, he can wait a bit- he has the whole safe zone to get body modded.
>>
No. 454642 ID: f09b71
File 134766617029.png - (19.86KB , 700x700 , s6-120.png )
454642

>Couldn't he float around by getting double jump?
That would help for a brief turn, and it could still be awkward movement wise. The boon Float would be ideal.
Guardsman can't decide. It's hard, and look at him, he's simple. He tells Chomper to figure it out himself, it's about self expression, but if he can't, to just be a shark morph or something.

Meanwhile, as the rest of everyone works through the stage, Alison and Arbiter discuss how to spend CU on the chomper. Arbiter notes that tier 2 may actually be unusually ideal, even aside from the saved CU. A Chomper could be tier 2, with a range of 5 and scatter damage. If he recalls, even protector was better at tier 2, except for being subject to tier 2 boon bypasses. Scatter does not have the multi-range capability of bounce, but can still target several people on a single platform up to five platforms away. It would be useless in s system stage, with its tiles, though.

It might also not be useful against tier 3 enemies, if they had to fight the king or corruptor. But that is difficult to tell if instant kill overrides tier 3 immunities against a tier 2 weapon line. Protector would almost certainly be useless against tier 3's, so the chomper would become purely offensive, but if he can hit tier 3's from a range of 5, it would be devastating.
>>
No. 454649 ID: 04b86a

Immunity nullifies the weapon range, so he'd have to reach a Tier 3 in order to attack them. But at the same time he'd have teleport and swap position, and double jump is superior to float with regards to vanishing platforms, so I think Tier 2 would be best for him.
>>
No. 454651 ID: 1987d1

Could Chomper get a passive float? We met someone back in the Stage 5 safe zone who got along just fine without legs or wings or anything! He just drifted through the air like a ghost.
>>419305

>Chomper: tier 2 offense or tier 3 defense?
This is where having two would have been useful! Oh well.

Worth considering is that if we make him tier 2, we can always change our minds are go tier 3 later (but not vice versa). Also, whatever way we do it, "insta kill" or "invulnerable" is likely to be removed from the system after we abuse it big time. It'll have a limited shelf life- we'll likely only get one good run out of it (maybe more if we're using it not against the system or in brackets, against Bones, say).
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No. 454652 ID: f2c20c

>>454642
On the other hand, if T3 immunity blocks instakill via T2 range, then we'd have to rely entirely on T3 might.

I wish there was a way to test it without risking a buttload of CU. On the other hand, I'd like to note that Bounce is an alternative for making Chomper's instakill hit multiple people. Double Move would also make Chompter quite useful... so would Teleport. Having him with Protector would make all T2 opponents completely useless, as well.

Come to think of it, Chomper with Teleport and Swap Position would be an absolute NIGHTMARE against T3 opponents, even without the benefit of range. Let's set him to T2.

Also I suspect he might be able to get a weapon form of his own, which means he can eat his own chain. How about a chain-sickle?
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No. 454654 ID: 4a328b

These are good points, hold on while I use the calculator..

Ok, barring any retcons to remove the INFINITE HEALTH and INFINITE DAMAGE, might as well give him some armor so he can get armor forms and weapon so he can get weapon forms, then full range, absorb, double jump, scatter damage, teleportation and swap position.
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No. 454657 ID: 1987d1

Oh, and on the subject of getting Chomper a body? He doesn't have to worry about clothes. Once he knows what he wants to be, he can ask Alison for advice. She's pretty good at coming up with outfits when people ask. (Shark in a suit! Well, assuming he's male).
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No. 454658 ID: 04b86a

I just thought of something interesting. If someone sells back their ranks in Tier 1 Weapon, do they lose access to some of their weapon forms? And if they don't, do they get even more weapon form slots upon ranking back up?
>>
No. 454659 ID: f2c20c

>>454657
Shark in a robe. Make him look like death incarnate. Which he is.

I'm not sure if we should use Chomper to take out Bones' army next stage, or save him for when we fight Corruptor and then the CAI. Considering that Bones should theoretically have a much bigger army than us, maybe it's worth using him early.
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No. 454660 ID: b062ca
File 134766855577.jpg - (108.21KB , 600x338 , street_sharks.jpg )
454660

You know what must be done about Chomper's body.
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No. 454661 ID: 4a328b

>>454659
Bones probably has his own chomper, if he was smart.
>>
No. 454662 ID: 1987d1

>>454659
I think it's silly to assume any in-game traits or abilities can be used to beat the CAI. Someone controls the rules, and it's probably them.

>>454661
We don't know that Bones ran this stage. Most of the house Lords have been skipping stages. Us doing stage 5 was an exception. Although I could see them being more aggressive now.
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No. 454666 ID: f09b71
File 134767030378.png - (45.50KB , 899x631 , s6-174.png )
454666

>If someone sells back their ranks in Tier 1 Weapon, do they lose access to some of their weapon forms?
No, they must choose a weapon form to be disabled. If they get the weapon ability back, they get access to the weapon back as well.

Eventually there are 1,470 contestants, entering a chaotic sort of balance. But everyone on the same time can hear everyone everything says, no matter how many people are talking at once. It proves jarring for the ghosts, as time seems to slow down for contestants who are hearing so many people talk at once, while the ghosts have a much shorter period of time to report to Alison what is being said, as the dreamhouse appears to move far faster.

The shopkeep comes back, telling that there is no limit to the people that can go, without the sign! Just get in there, because this is ridiculous. He speaks to everyone while saying that, but then he closes in to scanner and whispers something to her, to pass it on to Alison.

Administrator 6 sends a warning, everyone in Alison's dream house might need to get in the safe zone next stage. The finalized details will be apparent soon many, but nothing is concrete yet! And he also wanted to say that it is out of Sixer's power, although other admin's may have looked at Sixer's bracket as an example. Again, details later, but the gist of it might be summarized as "Effective in stage 7 safe zone and onward, anyone who was in the safe zone but does not enter the stage immediately, and anyone who does not explicitly exit a stage, will be automatically killed."
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No. 454667 ID: 4a328b

>>454666
Thanks for the warning...this means he should prepare himself for an abundance of contestants next round, though.
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No. 454669 ID: 1987d1

Alright, everyone just go through. This is getting silly.

>warning.
...I'm confused.

Does that mean there's no time to hang out in the safe zone? (ie, enter the stage immediately or die). Does that mean anyone who stays in the house but doesn't leave is safe? (because they never entered the safe zone in the first place)? That anyone who enters the safe zone at all has to run the stage? That everyone has to run the stage or die?
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No. 454670 ID: 886a4d

Huh so thats how they get rid of sanctuaries. They don't destroy them they just make it useless as a way to bypass the stage. This is a tad early for that though.

Alright lets break it down a bit.

1) You have to enter a stage from a safe zone.
2) You have to exit the previous stage.
3) If you do not do both you die.

This means all the people we want to actually participate in stages will have to go through them though. Otherwise we can just ghost ride it out. Alive or dead doesn't really matter for most of our people. Or we convince Glitcher to wake up and resume resurrecting people.

Speaking of Glitcher has he moved to his house?

Oh and that reminds me we want to get Chompers ghost eventually; though how is beyond me. Maybe the two Chompers can get persistence then white glove duel. Might break the game though and we'll need an intervension from Shopkeep.
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No. 454671 ID: 04b86a

Let Shopkeep know that we were wanting to refrain from abusing the sign's destruction. Yes, we were seriously avoiding an exploit of our own volition.

I'm tempted to ask Sixer to pass on that if that happens we'll consider informing the Corruptor that he's a CAI and therefore capable of freely altering the rules earlier than we planned on doing such, but that would just cause the Administrators to do something drastic. Informing him without warning them is still an option, though.

Of course, our dream home can't be directly touched by the System, so everyone there should be fine. They might be able to kill us upon leaving the dream, but as long as we're there we're safe. There is something they can probably do to hinder our use of the dream home as a Sanctuary, but I'm not saying what that is for fear of giving certain people ideas.
>>
No. 454672 ID: 1987d1

>Get Chomper's Ghost
That's risky, since we don't know that Chomper has a ghost. He might be like the Enforcers. (Does persistence still works on the ghost-less?)

...wait. Scholar is currently hanging in the ghost/dream land. So far as we've tested, you can use ghost talk to summon anyone there. But he doesn't have a ghost. What happens if someone tries to ghost talk to him? (Although we can't try this yet, as we promised no more living ghosts in the stages).
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No. 454673 ID: 886a4d

Persistence is a boon, it means you respawn if you die in a safe zone. It also sets your CU to 0 while in a safe zone.
>>
No. 454674 ID: 1987d1

>>454673
I know what it does. I've just got mild paranoia over a possible edge case we never explicitly tested. It probably works on everybody, though.
>>
No. 454678 ID: f2c20c

>"Effective in stage 7 safe zone and onward, anyone who was in the safe zone but does not enter the stage immediately, and anyone who does not explicitly exit a stage, will be automatically killed."

Um, this means that if our people don't go to stage 7's safe zone, they won't be at risk. It means that we can't bring people from the safe zone to the dream house and have them stay out of the next stage.

So basically, anyone who enters the next safe zone cannot hide in Alison's dream. This means that Alison herself CANNOT exit her dream unless we want her to enter future stages.

I wish people could fall asleep in this stage to enter Alison's dream.

Also, we were told by Glitcher that the system cannot reach Alison's dream house. Killing those present in the house would contradict Glitcher, who should be infallible. Unless, it's like, a timebomb flag placed on anyone who enters the safe zone, which goes off if they aren't in the next stage when the time comes for them to be there? No, that doesn't make sense; Alison's dream house is a safe zone. It should be impossible for anyone to die there. To be sure, we can give people at risk Persistence, which should keep them alive even if they are killed.

As far as getting Chomper's ghost, why bother? He's invincible. If he ever becomes mortal, we can get it then, if he has one.
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No. 454683 ID: 886a4d

Chomper can still die. There are ways to get around invulnerability with stage mechanics and if he encounters a different 'insta-kill' type like that trap in the first room here he might still die when we have no way to reach him.
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No. 454692 ID: f09b71
File 134767859307.png - (13.17KB , 700x700 , ssf7-1.png )
454692

>There is going to be an influx of contestants
Sixer is pretty certain he won't be coming to the next stage. He'll be sending his regards, and apologies, to the next administrator who gets the dubious honor of handling the bracket of King and Alison.

>Get a clarification on the warning
Shopkeep says to just wait for the next stage's brochure, it'll explain it fully, and the finalized form.

Alison tells the shopkeep that she was actually avoiding the exploit on her own volition, by not abusing the sign. Shopkeep says that that is appreciated, and Alison can think of that appreciation in the form of Shopkeep officially stating that it is alright to abuse.

So everyone heads through.

Stage 6 Completed!

Guardsman and Chomper gained 1,000 CU each, split from the reward.

Lots of people scrambled for the exit, and only got around 10 CU. Many though trusted that it would go smoothly, and so waited to enter one at a time over the course of almost 500 turns to get the CU cost, occasionally with people accidentally moving in at the same time, but Alison doesn't oversee that. It is estimated that there were around 3,500 survivors.

In regards to the warning, Alison has everyone in her house stay in her house initially, and has Scanner reads the brochure.

Note: Rogues who manage to bypass entering the stage, or exiting the stage, will be processed as dead. This means that one must enter the stage as normal, and exit the stage legally. Each of these steps will give validation. If one reaches stage 8 safe zone without both validations, they will be auto-slain. If one enters a stage without entering that stage legally through the safe zone, they will be auto-slain. However, because of the harshness of this rule with the massive overloading of stages from the offending rogues, there will be additional exits. This will still favor the strong, and we are aware that it will most likely help the rogues, for whos brackets they apply. See footnotes.

*There are still only 10 exits available, and they will not be able to be overloaded. However, a successful contestant will be able to choose THREE individuals to go through as well. This includes dead individuals, and can serve as a limited form of resurrection. A dead individual does not necessarily need to have been absorbed by the winner, and this will serve as a way to recover long lost friends. They will not, however, be given any CU, and so long lost friends may be behind in CU. This method is also experimental, but if it is seen as beneficial, then it will continue in future stages with decrementing resurrections.

If there are any questions, there will be a question box periodically positioned in town. It is impersonal, but we also know that sending personal system members will be an invitation to harassment.


Arbiter thinks then that while people may continue living in Alison's house, but should they ever enter a stage, they will have to continue running every stage from the beginning through the end from then on out in order to continue being alive. As the good news, they will be able to test out using persistance, Smuggler and absorb boon to continuously resell boons.

Scanner also reports that she is seeing tier 3 lights coming in from far more people than King or Alison had, implying that at least bones had people running the stage as expected.

No matter what, Alison is sorely tempted to head into the stages herself, as she does not like being blind, having to relay messengers to stand around and hear about all of this stuff.
>>
No. 454695 ID: 4a328b

Alison should ask for her people's approval before she assumes it's ok with them for her to risk the dream house by going through the stages. A counter point you can offer is that staying out of the legal safe zones might get ret-conned to auto-kill ANYWAY--and is a reason I personally feel we should go and do it, but it's one of the drawbacks of this safe zone probably needing Alison alive--responsibility
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No. 454696 ID: 1987d1

>Sixer is pretty certain he won't be coming to the next stage
We... we gave him a ghost house invitation! If he goes to sleep, he can escape dying with his system bracket!

>Limited resurrection
...obvious choice is Glitcher, if we can convince him not to commit suicide again beforehand. Actually, anyone from Corruptor's faction (Bones, etc) is probably likely to try that.

>Rules
...so basically, people have to commit to either be stage runners, or hiders. Stage runners can covert to hiders, but this is our last chance to convert hiders to runners.

>Only 10 exits (40, with invited friends), no overloads
This puts us in direct competition with King. If we don't want to fight him, we need a formal alliance. We need to put his low level people in our house, and combine our strong teams.

>Alison comes out
Yeah, we can't hide forever.
>>
No. 454702 ID: 886a4d

oh god Sixer.... please have gone to sleep!

Alright since we want for Alison to actually WIN we need to have her participate in stage 7, also her tier 3s will need to pass as well.

As for those who 'wake up' and participate I think it should include the bulk of our tier 3s, minus Scholar and Snuggler. Just to have a little variety we should also get Gambler, and Chomper. Both of them will give us a bit of reach. That will probably be around half the exits.


We need to confer with King about his subjects as well as all those who passed through the stage with us. Invite King to visit your House so he can see it for himself. Not as under you, just so he can see that if he does give his subjects a safe haven here that it exists and is in fact safe. Do they want to risk the stage or keep safe in our dream house from now on?


We should also ask for some our house members to volunteer to die so we can use them as Ghost Talk relays if we don't have enough already... though honestly I doubt that.

Oh and offer King access to Ghost Talk as well. We'll pay for the persistence, white gloves and Ghost Talk out of our own pocket.

For Chomper lets get him to max tier 2 with the normal skill lines and boon set as well as persistence. He'll need to head to the Dream for that anyway.
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No. 454721 ID: f2c20c

>>454692
>resurrecting nonabsorbed folks
Tell Catatonic! Hell, tell EVERYONE. If anyone has dear friends that they lost to being unabsorbed, it is our duty to give them the opportunity to bring them back. There will likely be competition, but perhaps we can work something out? I believe that each resurrection slot should be used to bring back someone who is unabsorbed. This is a unique opportunity for us!

Also tell Glitcher about this change. We need some way of getting to a system bracket in Stage 7, so that we can use our card. Either Glitcher or Savior has to do this for us... actually, we can probably leave Glitcher alone for that, nevermind. Savior will most likely approach us and ask for us to put all his people in our untouchable sanctuary, since his is going to be obliterated soon.
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No. 454722 ID: 1987d1

>>454721
...nearly everyone is gonna know people we failed to save. This is gonna sound callous, but we can't afford to burn our extremely limited stage slots to pull back people we're just gonna sit out in the house.

If we want to save the perma-dead wholesale, we should be looking for a way to break into the system's backup of people. This is the second confirmation that the system has a way to preserve people who die unabsorbed.
>>
No. 454728 ID: f2c20c

>>454722
Well, we could ask via the question box that all unabsorbed dead players just be sent to the outskirts of our dream sanctuary. This would not be for any sort of mechanical advantage; it would only be to give them a chance at life after death.
>>
No. 454738 ID: 4a328b

Wonder if we should use the question box to ask for an invite from the Stage 7 admins. Maybe something like:

Interested in reading some logs from past incarnations--if you are too, invite me to stop by! If not, I'll be dropping in anyway, but I thought I'd try and be polite about it. Hope to hear from you soon~
Much love,
Alison
>>
No. 454744 ID: 1987d1

Actually, if Sixer dies, that means we don't have a quick and easy route to cash in our S7 keycard. And we want Arbiter to use that, since he should have access to team Corruptor's logs (more significantly, logs from cycles where Alison was killed early).

We're going to have to ask King to put us in contact with the Savior, I think (he can summon him, remember?). King might be interested in cooperating for that, actually, for a chance to hear more logs.
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No. 454753 ID: f09b71
File 134768817813.png - (12.70KB , 700x700 , ssf7-2.png )
454753

Alison notices that Sixer did fall asleep, and he is welcomed into her hour. It wasn't like he wanted to come here, but it was a better alternative then dying. He doesn't want to sound rude, but that's how it is.

Unfortunately, he can't say who his successor is, or how cooperative he will be.

Chomper will be given enough CU to get to max tier 2, at least that way Alison can still decide whether or not to go tier 2 or 3.

Iso also comes, asking, if there are no slots needed or anything like that, if it would be okay if Musician was resurrected. Alison knows that Mako, although he hasn't asked, may also want his own old friend resurrected. She also knows though that she can't just resurrect everyone that everyone once knew.

Alison will also want to know what Tier 3's to bring and who to leave behind, assuming that they are all volunteering and willing to go. She will also ask around for whether people are alright with risking the dream house, but Chief and Succubus are saying that the general consensus feels that they would have more respect for her if she ran through. Especially since, even if she dies, as long as someone on her side gets through, she'll be resurrected, although it is hard to say how messed up the dream house would be by a mere interruption.
>>
No. 454754 ID: 085efe

Go. Definitely go.

Also, hug sixer.
>>
No. 454757 ID: 886a4d

... We're really going to have to talk to King about this stage. Otherwise we'll be fighting him for spots. I KNOW we can take him on as he is not even delimintor x 2. Hell Alison can almost one shot him right now. So if it comes down to a fight we'll win. However I don't want to do that. I want to team up with King.

... also ask if Sixer wants to participate in the stages. Or stay here. Another delimeter x 2 tier 3 would be useful. But we won't force him.
>>
No. 454759 ID: 4a328b

People with a long absorb train who didn't get absorbed by our own people get priority, assuming there are open slots. You wish you could tell your friends their friends would be top of the list, but you are trying not to be a huge hypocrite.

Not always succeeding, but trying.

On the flip side, the fact that they CAN bring back the unabsorbed dead and that incident with the other enforcer lead you to conclude that everyone has a backup SOMEWHERE. It's just a question of finding out how to access it. That's now a thing on the To-Do list.

Alison is IN for the next stage.
>>
No. 454773 ID: 1987d1

>It wasn't like he wanted to come here, but it was a better alternative then dying. He doesn't want to sound rude, but that's how it is.
That's alright. It's not like you've had much of a chance to get to know us. Thank you for the help and leniency in the stage, and or what it's worth, we're glad you're not dead. *Fuzzy neck hugs*

>Resurrection and numbers.

Okay, we can get 10 people through the stage, and pull another 30 after them with invites. Some of those can be resurrections.

(14) Our core party: Alison, Mako, Recluse, Scanner, Iso, Clarence, Healer, Gaurdsman, Atlas, Strongarm, Bandit, Gambler, Arbiter, Chomper.

(4) King's core party: King, Pepper, Mint, other Chomper.

If we don't bring anyone else, and assuming we can talk King into joining us and only running with those few people, that leaves 22 slots we can use on resurrections. Glitcher's a candidate, if he consents in advance (Although you know Corruptor or one of his allies will try to res him in another bracket even if we don't). If we do Glithcer, Musician, Mako's friend, and Cata's 2 friends we've got 17 slots / possible resurrections.

We should ask the question boxes if the resurrections still require consent.

>Other stuff

We need to talk to King as soon as possible. We need to work out a cooperative agreement for the next stage, and extend an offer of safety for his excess people since overloads are gone now. We also need to ask him to summon Savior for us, so we can use him to get to system space to card Arbiter.

We should also look around for Bones. He's gonna show up to talk.

We should note that the new rules will force all the big players from Corruption to start doing stages again. Including the Corruptor.
>>
No. 454774 ID: f09b71
File 134769007258.png - (18.00KB , 700x700 , ssf7-3.png )
454774

Alison isn't trying to be a hypocrite, and she intends on saving everyone, Musician and Duelist's friend alike. Iso understands.

>Hug sixer
His fluff gets everywhere. Alison asks if he wants to join the next stage. He says he is fine with that, if she wants.
>>
No. 454776 ID: f09b71
File 134769017978.png - (104.03KB , 1269x852 , ssf7-4.png )
454776

She moves to the safe zone, and starts in a plain room. With all its inconsistency, the tier 3 light is back on. She makes her way to the rooftop with Duelist, who hands her a brochure to fill in the short, missing details that scanner didn't read. Alison can already get a rough idea though, from the fact that there are only a dozen stars or so in the immediate vicinity.

Stage 7

Entrants: 2500 planned (Actual number: 12,091

Exits: 10 planned (40*)

Safe Zone timer: 30 Hours[/aa]

King waves to her from the rooftop. Before Alison talks to him about allegiance, he offers exactly that, saying that with no small support from his advisors, he should allow himself to keep some kind of allegiance with Alison at least for purposes of passing the stages. He'll take back what he said about not needing a queen. And though he will probably investigate it himself, he does feel he can trust Alison more than a constant influx of an immense amount of tier 3's coming in from the other side of those buildings. Alison can likely safely assume that that is Bones. She does invite King to go to her house. He says he'll do that soon, yes. He is also willing to summon the savior, if she wishes to do that immediately.
>>
No. 454779 ID: 886a4d

lets see the Saviour.

Oh hell thats alot of Tier 3s.

.... I think we can take em. Optimism !
>>
No. 454780 ID: 4a328b

We have some questions for the questionbox first.
Mine:
Can the 10 who exit delay their selections of who to bring with them until after they know who else made it through the stage?

Also I say to send a note as I proposed earlier but I think people should vote on whether or not to do that part.
>>
No. 454784 ID: f2c20c

>>454776
Yes. The sooner we can get our next card used, the better. I have to wonder, though... will Alison using the S7 card result in getting new logs, or the same ones as last time? What would we even achieve by using the card? Maybe someone else should use it this time. It's worth considering. Maybe Arbiter should do it?

Or maybe by using the S7 card via Alison, we'll be granted more permissions... Anyway, we should ask via the question box about maybe getting into our bracket's system base without a fight.
>>
No. 454785 ID: 1987d1

Agree to King's proposed alliance. We're going to have to cooperate to figure out how to spend the limited advancement slots next stage, and put everyone else safely in the ghost house.

We need to send out aggressive recruiters this time around. Make the case clear to the normal players. There are way too many contestants this time round, ad there are multiple factions of "rogue" players who have cheated to ridiculous tier 3 levels. They want to take the out we're offering.

Tell King we'll summon savior soon, but not immediately. We're going to need him to get to a system zone, so we can use the S7 card on Arbiter. He was a member of Corruptor's inner circle- and he'll have stayed that way in loops where Alison was killed. He should have access to the logs from that faction.

Send someone to discretely check if Glitcher woke up during the stage (telescope). If he has, we want to talk to him later.

I think what we want to do now is go see if Bones is here and talk to him.

Hmm. Not very many stars left, now.
>>
No. 454787 ID: 1987d1

>>454784
...actually, Alison, take a look at your card. Is it still S6, or were you promoted to S7?

We're going to have to take Arbiter aside and talk to him, actually. Those logs are gonna be personal, and from possibly very different versions of himself- who either never knew Alison's influence, chose to side against her, or failed her and regretted it. That's gonna hurt, I think.
>>
No. 454789 ID: 886a4d

>>454773
Add Sixer to this list. We might need him. We should also see about optimizing his build since he has the typical terrible System build. Also get his ghost.
>>
No. 454792 ID: 4a328b

>>454789
Agree with getting his ghost, disagree with adding him to our list of main combatants.
>>454787
We don't know if the logs are keyed to one individual or the cards themselves, though.
>>
No. 454793 ID: 886a4d

>>454790
Actually we do, since the S. 6 was originally Cakes who most likely would give it to Arbiter in the 700-odd times we died before we somehow started surviving again.
>>
No. 454794 ID: 4a328b

>>454793
All we KNOW is that Arbiter and Cakes didn't show up on the list. Other people did, but we don't have any confirmation on the WHY.
>>
No. 454798 ID: 1987d1

>>454794
We know Corruptor was planning on sending Arbiter with the S6, before we asked to be a part of the mission, or the notes showed up.

Presumably, in any loop where Alison died early (bad luck, didn't make it to Corruption, or gets betrayed) Arbiter would be successful (well, assuming he wasn't dead too). And from Recluse's note, we can assume there were loops where Alison let Corruptor talk her into waiting till S7, while Arbiter did S6.

It's a nearly certain then, that there were loops where Arbiter got S6 access instead of Alison. It's more than likely he has logs from some of those runs.
>>
No. 454799 ID: 6a1ec2

Well crap. Did Bones make everyone a Tier 3? Everyone? Actually wait, how could you exploit that?
>>
No. 454803 ID: f2c20c

In theory, Bones should only have as many T3 as he bought from Smuggler, since Smuggler was the ONLY way to get T3.
>>
No. 454805 ID: 886a4d

If we want to increase our tier 3s and have a battle royale in stage 7 verse Bones then all we have to do is spend the 260 million CU we have in stock. However first we should farm as much as possible. We have Snuggler, they don't.

To start off with have Chief delegate 6 tier 2s to become Tier 3, then have them start farming immediately. Every time they double the initial investment they should promote another 6. He should use our primary team as guidelines for stats. Volunteers only as they WILL be killed at the end of the stage since we can't overload the exit. These people will be there merely to kill Bones.
>>
No. 454807 ID: 4a328b

>>454805
No, there are some advantages T2s have over T3s. We don't need to go promoting people willynilly--do it THOUGHTFULLY.
>>
No. 454809 ID: 1987d1

>>454803
>Smuggler was the ONLY way to get T3
Not necessarily.

We launched attacks on 4 different system brackets right? Each one had a shopkeeper baron.

If Swordbane or Bones successfully recruited a Baron during their raids, then Corruption can still make as many tier 3s as it wants. More than us, as they have more CU, and can farm on a bigger scale.

>>454805
Hold on! We still need to consider slots. How many additional tier 3s do we want? Do we want any of our support based tier 2s?
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No. 454810 ID: 886a4d

>>454809
They won't be filling slots. They'll simply be there to provide numbers against Bones. Those lights indicate a LOT of tier 3s.
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No. 454812 ID: f09b71
File 134769328223.png - (90.90KB , 700x700 , ssf7-5.png )
454812

>Check in on glitcher
He is asleep inside of the house Alison built for him.

>Look at Alison's card
Hers still says S. 6.

Alison asks to see the saviour soon, but first is going to write some notes.

On her way, she asks Arbiter about his logs. She is interested in them, but mentions that they may hurt, given they could easily have been at ends. The Arbiter knows, and trusts that Alison will know that previous Arbiters were not necessarily this Arbiter. He hugs.

>Ask for Sixer's ghost
It will be arranged.

She will continue to think about who she is going to bring, as she does have 30 hours. She will also get Chief to get a couple of people brought to tier 3 and begin exploiting the reselling as much as she can.
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No. 454815 ID: f09b71
File 134769342864.png - (41.71KB , 700x592 , ssf7-6.png )
454815

Alison gets some paper, writes the questions, and puts them in a Question Box on the side of one of the building walls at the edge of, unusually, an ocean.

>Interested in reading some logs from past incarnations--if you are too, invite me to stop by! If not, I'll be dropping in anyway, but I thought I'd try and be polite about it. Hope to hear from you soon. Much hugs, Alison
>Can the 10 who exit delay their selections of who to bring with them until after they know who else made it through the stage?

She puts the paper in the notebox, and it clicks out some paper back immediately.

First of all, welcome, Naga, to stage 7! Yes, I am not calling you by your nickname, as contestants have no use for nicknames, and none of you are in any position to be of a noble title. With that out of the way, yes, when to resurrect is a decision made just prior to entering stage 8 after stage 7 is done with. And thank you for the warning, as I have no intention of inviting or showing you the way. I will stop you at all costs from reading your logs. In fact, I will note that it is only my vested interest in life that I do not come down there personally and wipe the floor with you myself. And should you choose not to come to me, as would be wise, then I wish you good luck in the stage.
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No. 454816 ID: f2c20c

Throw a second note in. "Why? We're not enemies. I could even help you."
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No. 454818 ID: 886a4d

Looks like we have a Fiver on our hands, and a fight. Welp lets get this over with. We might want to take our tier 3s with us now since we're heading on up. Might as well take the whole gang at that.
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No. 454819 ID: 4a328b

Dear Pessimist,
Thank you for the swift reply. Thank you for the well wishes, hope you keep safe as well, though that seems less likely now--see you soon! <3
Hugs,
Alison
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No. 454821 ID: 1987d1

>>454810
...oh, are Bone's tier 3s doing the glowy thing Enforcer did when he first arrived? I forgot about that.

Still, I'm not sure making a bunch of tier 3 cannon fodder to die is such a great idea. We don't have to worry about Bones for 30 hours, anyways. Maybe not even then, if we can talk sense into him.

...or if we can talk him into settling this with a duel (and cheating with persistence).

>Notes
Dose the stage-clear resurrection require the target's consent?

>I will stop you at all costs from reading your logs
He can easily do that- by committing suicide. Then his system zone will come undone, and we won't be able to use the admin room.

>Naga
Man, we have a perfectly good name, but the people insist on giving us a title. When we finally relent to using that, people start insisting on describing us by race, instead! Why is everyone so hung up on this.

...make sure to call him "Seven" or something in the next note. We're not gonna call him administrator, either. :p

I guess we talk with Bones? See where we stand. Then Savior, then the system.
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No. 454822 ID: 886a4d

I think we shouldn't deal with Bones until after we head on up. If we find a way to talk to the Upper Management or something else comes up we might not even have to talk with him.
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No. 454823 ID: 4a328b

>>454820
We can always invade some other admin's bracket, though. But it sure will be sad if he offs himself.

Also we don't have to cheat--we can give Bones persistence too...if we feel like it :3c
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No. 454826 ID: 04b86a

Oh. So, in other words, our current Administrator is just a self-important jerk!

Put in another note, saying that for someone who has a vested interest in not dying he seems oddly carefree about the fact that if he does somehow survive beyond State 11, of which we have seen no evidence of this being possible without becoming a contestant, he'll simply be killed regardless by something that can change the rules at a whim. Incidentally, if he hasn't received a note from himself then we know for a fact that he's never survived to see the end.
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No. 454843 ID: f09b71
File 134769897497.png - (69.03KB , 700x700 , ssf7-7.png )
454843

Alison throws in another note.

>Dear Pessimist whom I will call Sevener,
>Thank you for the swift reply. But why? We're not enemies. I could even help you. If you survive past Stage 11, which we haven't seen evidence of happening without being a contestant.
>Hugs, Alison

Dear Naga,
I disagree that we are not enemies. As for not surviving if we are not a contestant? I am not so sure about that. In any case, if it is true, an administrator can become a contestant, as you may be aware of yourself. As for why I would fight you? The same reason I intend on fighting bones. Many reasons, Naga, and I am surprised you wouldn't know! Logs are missing? Perhaps you didn't want to tell yourself? The latter would be reasonable. It wouldn't change your decision making, because as far as you are concerned, that was in the past. I know I said I would wish you luck should you choose not to come to me, but in my time, that was an hour ago of doing nothing but writing notes. In that time, I changed my mind, because by this point I am merely amusing myself in fucking you up again. I will not tell you through these notes, you will have to find out for yourself.
-Come at me Sis, the Administrator.

>>
No. 454845 ID: 4a328b

Well, let's go see, then!
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No. 454846 ID: f2c20c

>>454843
So, he's dealing with time compression.

Hmm. Savior can visit other brackets. How about we NOT charge headfirst into a system base led by someone who is expecting us and extremely confident that they'll win? Let's go somewhere we're not expected. Heck, maybe we can even visit one of those bases that Savior emptied, if there are any left.
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No. 454848 ID: 886a4d

Unless I'm reading this wrong it seems that this one DOES have logs. Interesting. Wonder if she'll share when we go up. It also sounds like she will choose to be a contestent rather then an administrator for this stage. I wonder how many administrators will consider doing the same.


Looks like we should take most of our T3 troops with us on up when we go fight. Remember to get Sixer's ghost first though.

Also rebuild Sixer to be like Alison but without Bounce and instead more T3 Weapon.

I wonder if shes delim x3 or even x4 since we do know it changes. That would be a treat.
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No. 454850 ID: 6a1ec2

Poor guy is stuck doing customer support. No wonder he hates our guts! I wonder who else is writing notes to him though.
>>
No. 454858 ID: c6ec33

I really, really, really want to see what s/he does when Chomper eats his/her face off.

But it any case, we also need to talk to Savior. Assaulting a system bracket that doesn't expect us may be a good idea.

Glitcher as a candidate for resurrection... that would be interesting. We certainly need to talk to him before entering the stage, to see whether or not he'll help us yet.
>>
No. 454859 ID: 4a328b

Sevener's probably the one who figures out how to disable Sanctuaries.

If we send a note back, include: Yeah, I think I know what you do--very clever, if it is you. But unless you can figure out a way to stop the reset I don't really see what you think you're actually accomplishing, there.
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No. 454864 ID: f09b71
File 134770557033.png - (18.63KB , 700x700 , ssf7-8.png )
454864

Alison makes sure to get Sixer's ghost. Chief also reports, saying that the test is a success. Assuming it goes uninterrupted, Alison will soon effectively have infinite CU. Alison will bypass any more notes, as she likely will be accomplishing as much as the administrator by doing so.

For now, she meets King inside of the building they were in. King's people have already started staking out their grounds, and King behind an office chair in the lobby that he has promoted into his throne.

He pulls out a whistle, giving the most uncaring toot that have ever hit Alison's ears. King's eyes roll. Mint explains that while the King does not have ill will to the savior, he does not find his company pleasant either.
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No. 454865 ID: f09b71
File 134770558061.png - (106.53KB , 700x700 , ssf7-9.png )
454865

A teleporter comes out of the floor, shining brighter than what would ever be necessary.

>"You rang, dear follower?" the savior says.
>"I am not your follower." King replies.
>"We are all followers of someone or something, even if we name ourselves Kings and Queens in resistance to that."
>"Quit the philosophy. The Snake Queen wants to talk to you."
>"Oh? And what would she have of me?"
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No. 454866 ID: 886a4d

We wish to first go to a system bracket, empty preferably to look at logs. Afterwords if possible we wish to go to upper administration. We also want to ask him several questions if hes willing to talk.

Some questions.

1) Is he aware of the resets and is he trying to fight them or is he content to let this to go on until it is shut down... and we all die permanently.
2) Would he be willing to share his logs if he has them? We will share our own of course in exchange.
3) What is his beef with the Corrupter?
4) This is a long shot but does he think he has already won and gone onto being the CAI while the him in front of us is simply an upgraded copy?
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No. 454867 ID: 4a328b

Nice to meet you, Savior. We're looking to poke around for information in a powered stage seven admin's room--preferably unoccupied, but if that's not an option another bracket's room would work just as well.

Also a heads up: our previous intel indicates that sanctuaries are usually gone by stage eight.
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No. 454868 ID: f2c20c

>>454865
First, ask him if he got the memo. If not, inform him that he's now locked into participating in the next stage since he entered this safe zone, and anyone else who comes out of his sanctuary will be as well.

Then ask to be teleported to an empty system base, if any exist. You have a card to use. Oh, and ask him if he got any strange notes sitting around somewhere.

Lastly, tell him you didn't name yourself Snake Queen. You are Alison.
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No. 454869 ID: b7169d

Wonder out loud where the shiny is coming from.
>>
No. 454870 ID: 886a4d

Oh and Scanner should scan the Saviour when she gets the chance.
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No. 454895 ID: 1987d1

Start with polite introductions, of course.

>>454866
All dis.

Also ask him if he's aware of the source of his powers, or how he thinks he came by them. So far, he's the third contestant we've met with special or unique abilities (Corruptor, Glitcher, Savior), and these powers don't seem to be flukes, or things that anyone can luck into, as the same people get them loop after loop. If we're not wrong, he's also go the third means of creating an extra-stagery sanctuary we've seen (Corrupted sanctuary, glitched dream house, Savior's haven).

We also understand his personal philosophy is to save as many people as he can offer safety to? That's not far off from our own ideal. We're looking for a way to save everybody, and break the cycle.

...we might also want to offer to back up his ghost, if he hasn't already done so through King. Logs seem to indicate you usually get killed off.
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No. 454921 ID: f09b71
File 134773779535.png - (53.20KB , 700x700 , ssf7-10.png )
454921

>Have scanner scan
Alison will get a scan if Scanner happens to come around.

"Hello. I'm Alison, as I did not name myself the Snake Queen. I have some questions, along with wondering where that shine is coming from."
>"Certainly. Ask anything, and I will call you by your nickname Alison, as I do know so much, but so little about you."
"Are you aware of the resets?"
>"That I am."
"Are you trying to fight them, or let it go until it is shut down?"
>"Ah, I do believe that if there was any intention to shut us down, it would have happened a long time ago. I think like this, we will be able to live as long of a life as anyone could ask for."
"Oh... okay, are you willing to share any of your logs? I'll share my own in return."
>"Logs are nothing but worry, and worry is nothing but useless. I beg you, don't concern yourself with them."
"I'm going to, I'm sorry. If not that, then, what is your problem with the corruptor?"
>"My problem? I do not have a personal problem with the corruptor, although I understand that I may have given that impression. I was simply made to stop him, and so that is what I will do. Or have tried, rather. Whoever made me, gave me the powers that I have to do so."
"Why stop him? From doing what?"
>"Well, it is already too late for that. Do not worry about it. I will simply try and destroy him hoping that it is better late than never, but until then, will get as many people into my sanctuary as possible."
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No. 454922 ID: f09b71
File 134773780772.png - (37.11KB , 700x700 , ssf7-11.png )
454922

"I have reason to believe that sanctuaries will be destroyed by stage 8."
>"I wonder if that information is outdated? A lot can change in 1,000 cycles. More changes happen in each reboot than one might think."
"Still, we may want to back up each other's ghosts. I think that you get killed off frequently, and our goals aren't all that different."
>"Ah, I do, yes. If it would make you feel better, we may exchange ghosts."
"Also, you are going to have to participate in the next stage."
>"I am aware, and that is my intention. That new rule will only be effective after the end of this safe zone, until then, people may come and go from their sanctuaries as they please, and won't be autoslain until stage 8 proper and beyond should they ever come back."
"Lastly, at least for now, I want to enter a system bracket. Not this bracket's, but another."
>"Oh, oh, I was afraid you would say that. It'll be nothing but carnage if you go. Either you have an abrupt, painful end to your cycle, or you cause genocide by killing so many of the few remaining administrators. It really would be better if you sent as many as you could to my place. Yes, we will be rebooted, but everyone will live like kings and queens until then, only to have to make it to this point again and live easy. In a way, my place is a reward for coming as far as they need to, to get to me, it's my regret that I don't have glitcher's power to slow time down so that I can gather everyone until this stage, when there are only 20 brackets remaining. You say that our goals are not so different, and true as it may be, we seem to be meeting right when our goals would have us do the opposite."
"I still want to raid a bracket. I'm trying to save everyone with a more permanent solution and break the cycle."
>"Despite my misgivings, I respect you, and will lead you to a system zone if you wish. I will be going through the remaining brackets and saving everyone that I can, in any case. I believe that the contestant numbers are going to be cut in half by the time I am done with this busy cycle."
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No. 454923 ID: 886a4d

Thank you that is my wish. Is there any restriction to how many people we may take?


If not lets take Chomper and all the tier 3s, minus Snuggler \ Scholar,. Chomper will stay out of battle for the most part unless they cheat or it looks like we are losing.
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No. 454926 ID: 1987d1

...I'm not trying to raid a system bracket for the sole purpose of attacking the system. Death and carnage is not my aim. I believe I have a way to access logs from Corruptor's faction (that might interest him!). If there's any way out of this, we need as much information as possible- to see things from all sides.

If you don't mind me asking, how are you so well informed? Corruptor and Glitcher seemed ignorant of the full extent of their powers and uniqueness. Well, at least until the notes gave Glitcher all his memories. Do you remember, too?

>Come with me, to safety
I'm sorry, but I cannot be satisfied with a temporary paradise. I respect your efforts to ease the suffering and spare so many, but I have to try for a more permanent solution. I have to hope we accomplish more than just die forever.

>Corruptor
I'm not sure what you're meant to stop him from doing, but I can't bring myself to believe he needs to be destroyed. Even despite how things broke down between us, and my own warnings, I think there's good in him.
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No. 454933 ID: 04b86a

>send as many people as we can to his place
Actually, the Glitcher's last act was to give us our own sanctuary in the dream city. The Savior's welcome to go there if he wishes, and if he can teleport people there himself then he is welcome to do so, as anyone there can then invite their ghosts and possibly be reunited with lost friends on a more permanent basis than simply sleeping allows. Of course, if he cannot do that he is also welcome to extend invitations to any ghosts he has, living or dead.

>Does not hate Corruptor
That's good to hear. Although, how does he know he was made to destroy the Corruptor? Was he told such upon acquiring his powers, or is that just an assumption he made? We ask this because our current theory on the origins of his, Corruptor's, and Glitcher's powers is that their predecessors were the winners of the first contest, and the powers are a side effect of said winners becoming the CAI.

>cannot slow time like the Glitcher
I assume he has actually attempted this rather than simply assuming he can't or having tried with the assumption that he couldn't possibly succeed. There's also the problem that the System will just undo the slow down the moment he stops concentrating on it, anyway.

>It'll be nothing but carnage if you go. Either you have an abrupt, painful end to your cycle, or you cause genocide by killing so many of the few remaining administrators.
Does he say this become of prior experience, or as just a guess? It sounds like the former, but other things he's said suggest he does not remember previous cycles.

And regardless of everything we said so far, we have two other problems to solve before beating the CAI becomes a good idea: we need to stop the reboot, and we need to find a way of avoiding the memory wipe new CAIs are routinely subjected to. Given the odds against our success, we very much respect the Savior for what he's doing and thinking the way he thinks, even if we can't bring ourselves to give up hope of bringing an end to all of this.

And one more question. He presumably either has significant limitations on his abilities or simply believes he does. Whichever is the case, could he possibly create our own administration room to use the keycard in? Then we won't have to fight an administrator to use it.
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No. 454935 ID: f09b71
File 134774068133.png - (11.47KB , 700x700 , ssf7-12.png )
454935

"Thank you, I would like to. Are there any restrictions on how many I may bring?"
>"No. I can't in good conscious give recommendations in the face of what you are doing, but if you bring too few, you will die for sure. But on the upside, there will be others who will try to break the cycles in your stead. You and your friends are not alone."
"My goal isn't carnage, anyways! I have a way to access logs, and I need as much information."
>"Yes, yes, I know it isn't your goal, I would not allow this if it were. It is simply that I dislike how many leaves you are willing to step on in your path."
"I try not to. If you don't mind me asking, how are you so well informed? Glitcher and Corruptor both seemed ignorant of their uniqueness, until glitcher gained all of his memories. Do you remember, too?"
>"Yes, all three of us are special here, but we are also unique in our own ways. Glitcher has the most individual, controllable power. Corruptor is more of a catalyst for spreading his power to others, his corrupted followers being an example. The two of them together are extremely dangerous. I have the most freedom and awareness, usually waking up by stage 2 or so. And a united system is about on par with the glitcher, but they do not become united until around now."
"I think corruptor has good in him. I don't believe he needs to be destroyed."
>"It is a shame, yes. I believe he has good in him too, but that does not excuse him, nor does it excuse my duties."
"Do you know why you were made to destroy the corruptor?"
>"I believe so."
"Did you find out on getting your power?"
>"I found out when I saw the real world for the first time. But that is more cause for worry. Don't."
"I will. When you said I or the administrators have an abrupt end, did you speak this from prior experience?"
>"Yes, based off of my logs."
"And, the last question I have, have you personally tried slowing time down or making keycards or administrator rooms?"
>"Yes on all counts. I do not have the power to do either. Now, I have much to do, so I will come back in... how long would you like? Since not everyone you have brought is here, you will need to gather them. Let let me know how long you need, and I will come back in that length of time."
"You are welcome to come to my dream house, by the way. Anyone there can invite their ghosts."
>"... it is tempting, even though I find the dream to be so dreary. I will consider this, but let's work on our business first, since you are so full of concern."
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No. 454936 ID: 886a4d

Very well, we shouldn't be too long. We can go get persistence from Snuggler and do a ghost exchange while Chief and Mako gather the others. We'll switch boons back and then be off. Shouldn't take longer then 10-20 minutes. Ghost Talk is very useful.
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No. 454937 ID: f2c20c

>>454922
>I will be going through the remaining brackets and saving everyone that I can, in any case.

Won't that create empty brackets? If he evacuates a system base, we can just use a card there without fighting anyone.

If this is impossible for some reason, tell him we'll do the invasion in one hour. That will give us some time to gather up people and prepare a fighting force, especially with our new CU income.

There's more important questions though. Does he know how early the Corruptor needed to be stopped to satisfy the CAI? Along the same lines, is fighting the CAI impossible? Finally, have we ever reached the CAI fight before while having this dream sanctuary?
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No. 454942 ID: 1987d1

Let's say an hour. We got things to do.

>Things to do.
Give King and his followers the formal dream house invite. He's not going to be able to overload stages anymore, and he's free to protect his subjects by taking them their. It's not the idyllic happy land Savior offers- it's where we plan, experiment, and try to work towards solutions.

Send recruiters out in force. Savior is going to save as many people across the brackets as he can- let's see how well we can do in our own. Be aggressive in their pitches. There's way too many competitors, and the last stage is going to be a grudge match between rogue tier 3 factions. The new rules prevent overloads. We're out to save as many people as possible- may of you saw that when we overloaded stage 6. Please, please, accept our invitation to safety.

In addition to the recruiters, send out another group to scour the safe zone for anything useful. Resources, information, books, clues, notes, anything! Things that might be of interest to us, or Engineer, or Historian.

We need to see what Chomper looks like, and if he's in need of fashion advice. Also, someone see how he reacts to non-chain food. Healer, get the man a cookie.

Make Smuggler accessible to King. He's going to need shop access to build up his Chomper, and to get his core forces prepared to face Bone's faction. We should exchange ghosts with him too.

We need to plan who's coming on the system raid. Are King and co coming along? Or it just us and our tier 3s.
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No. 454943 ID: 04b86a

Well, that shoot's down our leading theory on their origins. And puts us back to square one on beating the CAI.

I think an hour would be fine. The CU farming shouldn't take much time at all, but an hour would give us a chance to send recruiters out to gather people to bring to either our or Savior's sanctuary. In fact, since there are thirty hours and apparently only twenty safe zones to visit there's no reason Savior couldn't transport large groups of people to a few to cut back on his work load. I'm sure at least thousand or so of our people would be willing to go help him for a while, if he can't gather people from his sanctuary who know what it's like to act as recruiters.
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No. 454952 ID: f09b71
File 134774485979.png - (33.16KB , 700x700 , ssf7-13.png )
454952

"Wait, can't you evacuate a system bracket? I may not need to fight anyone?"
>"I have tried and will continue to do so. But do remember, in the beginning, there were one hundred billion administrators. Now there are 20. The top 0.00000002% of administrators that have followed the invisible rules that involve not abandoning their posts without an approved reason. I should not be surprised that not a single one of them will not follow me. They are also the best and most powerful. Do be careful."
"Does he know how early the Corruptor needed to be stopped to satisfy the CAI?"
>"I do not know what the CAI is, that is, how they feel. I do not know if they are the ones who made me, but if I was to succeed, I was to succeed on the very first cycle."
"And have I ever reached the CAI fight while having the dream sanctuary?"
>"That, I could not say for certain. It has escaped my knowledge if it has. I am the best informed, but you would know that that is not saying much."
"Then, I shouldn't be too long. We'll do a ghost exchange, and I'll have some of my friends gather everyone. An hour?"
>"I will be back in 1 hour, then.
>>
No. 454953 ID: f09b71
File 134774491626.png - (15.27KB , 700x700 , ssf7-14.png )
454953

Alison gets his ghost, and turns to Chief to put out recruiters more aggressively. Chief says that will be arranged quickly. The King accepts Alison's invitation to her dream house, saying that he may as well have his subjects live. He will build a house to the side, and construct a walkway between the two, with Alison willing. Alison also lets him know that he does, of course, have access to smuggler. And King lets Alison know that he is willing to join in on the system fight. There are still a few thousand of his that are alive to do so. More people survived than initially thought.

There will also be many people scouring the safe zone for anything useful.

And Chomper is checked in on. It looks like Alison has a human male after all. He has no interest in non chain food. In fact, he doesn't need as many chains as he used to. He might not be called the chomper anymore. Maybe he does need help with clothes. And his hair. He isn't sure. It feels so weird to him.

Mathematician also tells Alison that she has a final count of 257,312,301 CU.
She has 253 living people in her house, but King's bunch will, as an estimate, throw a few thousand on that.

After catching everyone up on the savior conversation, Arbiter advises Alison that she may want to bring far more people than normal. It was mentioned that an administrator has as many judges and enforcers and so forth proportional to how big a bracket is. There were almost as many enforcers and hunters as there were contestants in stage 5, although it is hard to tell if it is kept proportional.

Sixer said that he had 500 enforcers during his bracket of 20,000 with king's bunch. He also believes that it depends on how many actual contestants there are, not how many planned entrants there are. Therefore, she could be dealing with almost as many. It's hard to say if there is much of an understandable formula to it.
>>
No. 454954 ID: 6a1ec2

Well, it's good to know at least someone has a way to stop whatever this Corruption thing is, which we really don't have much information on beyond it turning the Corruptor's safe zone into a freeroam. We weren't actually worried about Corruptor much, as he seems like a swell fellow and agreed to non-aggression unlike Pessimist up there. Tell Savior your exact log message though, so he knows his ability is pretty much guaranteed to fail to stop Corruptor without some sort of contingency plan.

The real world is what you are concerned about shutting down. Nobody has to shut us down explicitly if whatever our reality is emerging from breaks down on its own from lack of maintenance. There is clearly something wrong with it, with all the glitches that are showing up out of nowhere in our reality.

Savior has a point in that our logs are just a means to the goal of breaking the reboot switch and stopping the levels from advancing. Maybe we shouldn't go after the system bracket since he'd just suicide at best leaving us with no log access anyway. Instead I say we start exploring that mysterious void space. Bring Chomper along. We do have at least someone jetting about in there, don't we? As far as I can tell that's our only lead.
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No. 454959 ID: 1987d1

Aw, hug poor chomper whatever he wants to be called. Poor dude is scruffy and uncertain.

>She has 253 living people in her house
Waaait. I thought the working estimate was 800 housemates. (At least according to Math >>433258). Even if we somehow got 500-600 people killed since Corruption, their ghosts would still be hanging around the house.

>Huge numerical resistance, mass death
Oof. I see why Savior was reluctant. That's going to be a godawful mess for us to manage, at best. Not sure it the one person a tile restrictions in system space will make that better or worse though. Two Chompers might make a big difference, especially if King and Alison coordinate builds (one offense, one defense).

Really, it would be nice to avoid a massive slaughter though. A battle of that scale, and we lose people. It's inevitable. And massacring enforces isn't optimal- we can't even preserve their ghosts. Because they don't have any. There's no way to bypass into the admin room? ...well, short of Glitcher. It's reassuring he woke up and moved, but he's hardly willing to help yet.
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No. 454961 ID: 886a4d

We still need information. We have only part of the puzzle which is Saviour-Glitcher-Corrupter and most of the pieces are missing. Corruptors logs would help us since Glitcher and Saviour are being non-helpful in that regard.

Definately start farming as much as possible. In the 30 hours or so we want to get a good bulk of our people up to tier 3. Pity Snuggler can't sell multiple deliminators. Having people with delim x2 or even x3 would be hella useful.

As for Chomper. I like his hair. As for clothes I'm as clueless as him though hah.

Wait weren't we up to 1800 living people? 800 from the sanctuary and we recruited 1000 last stage. Most stayed in the house.
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No. 454971 ID: f2c20c

>we may be dealing with hundreds of enforcers
GOOD GOD.

Also, if there's 20 brackets now, then because we know there's a merge every stage up to stage 10, there must be NO merge at stage 11.
7: 20
8: 10 or 4
9: 5 or 2
10: 1
11: 1

There is one bracket during both stage 10 and 11. It's a mathematical certainty. Hey, count the stars. Are there 20 of them?

Oh! I just realized something. Our CU exploit doesn't depend on any unique boons. We can have dozens or hundreds of people farming via that method. Let's use that GINORMOUS amount of CU to dump it all into King's forces to bring every single one of them to at least max T2, since they're all locked in to this stage and therefore have very little chance to get to the next stage. Then we use as many as are willing to assault the Admin. We'll reevaluate our forces after that to see if we're ready to deal with Bones in the stage.
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No. 454975 ID: f2c20c

>>454953
Dress him up in goff gear! Chains and shit on his clothes! Since armor respawns just as much as weapons do, he can nibble on his own chains constantly.

Also, his weapons:
Chain sickle, flail, kusari gama, ball and chain, and lightning. That last one is just to make sure he has a weapon that he doesn't want to eat.
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No. 454976 ID: f09b71
File 134774819238.png - (23.89KB , 700x700 , ssf7-15.png )
454976

Alison tells Savior it may take her a couple of hours actually to get everything in order after all. She does tell him all of her message logs anyway.

>Check the voidspace
She does have a few volunteers looking around using glitcher's old teleporters to the area with nothing in it, but so far nothing has been found.

>There was an estimate of around 800 housemates
Yes, but Alison only decided to resurrect around 20% of them, plus a few eventually. Most never were resurrected, and so she only has a fraction that are living.

>Count the stars
There are 19, her own making for 20 total.

However, she did somehow forget about the 1,000 people she had recruited last stage! Therefore mathematician, with a great deal of help, does a recount after around half an hour as all of King's members at least check in to Alison's dream. Alison may want to still think on it in case some major aspect is still wrong.

http://tgchan.org/wiki/Unnatural_Selection_Stats#Alison.27s_House.2FDream_Statistics

Bones section has also been scoped. They have staked out a territory, and there may be at least 1000 people under his name.

Arbiter asks how many should be arranged to fight the administrator. With the CU exploit, quickly making the current CU count useless, there should be no problem with maxing everyone at tier 2, along with possibly 30 more tier 3's if Alison likes.
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No. 454977 ID: e3f578

>>454959
>Poor dude is scruffy and uncertain.
Now I wanna call him Scruffy
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No. 454981 ID: 886a4d

>>454975
What the hell, seconded.

>>454977
Scruffy it is!

Yes get the 30 tier 3s. Same sorta setup as Alison's primary group. That is 2 Offence, 2 Defence, 1 Healer, 2 Platformer, 1 Scanner, 2 Summoners. 3 groups of those will work wonders verse the vastly more unorganized enforcers. If possible they should be used to working together and of course all should be volunteers.

We want to flodd the place so the enforcers have no where to land if summoned themselves.
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No. 454985 ID: f09b71
File 134774971734.png - (19.64KB , 700x700 , ssf7-16.png )
454985

>Hug Chomper
Alison does so and says she may help him with clothes sometime.

>Call him scruffy
Succubus's old friend is already called Scruff, so that may be confusing even though he hasn't been a regular in... ever, actually.

Chomper has been renamed to Scruffy!

He will also get some chain weapons, probably mostly use a ball and chain. Also chain armor.

Alison organizes 30 tier 3 upgrades based on different build classes. Arbiter will get on that, and asks if she wants to leave anyone behind or bring absolutely everyone into the system bracket.
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No. 454986 ID: 886a4d

Since this is going to be fairly dangerous I think yes take 'em all. Chief can continue farming so if we fail he'll be able to quickly get tier 3s up for the stage. He's to murderalize Bones if that happens Maybe leave a note for us not to repeat this if it is a mistake. We'll let him observe the battle via ghost talk.
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No. 454988 ID: e3f578

Could always give him "the Janitor" as a surname to differentiate him.
I mean, he eats chains mainly, but he used to eat EVERYTHING like a big living garbage disposal. Well, everything on a person's person anyway. Someone climbing the chain could be using garbage as a weapon or piece of armor, and that would have gotten eaten along with the chain. Shit, chain are just like a topping. Spritzel some chains on a steak and watch him grumble it up.Melt a chain down and poor it into a Succubus's belly button and he'll drink it right out of there...

We're testing Chomper out in this system run right? I would say bring everybody, but shit is going to be crowded. Unless that's not a factor, then bring everybody. And if it is, it'll be like a big group hug and that's awesome.
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No. 454990 ID: f2c20c

>>454985
First, I want to reiterate that we need to keep a large force behind in the dream and not have them locked into stages. We can bring in small groups in future stages to help stack the odds in our favor, but I want to keep a large number of them idling until the end.

My endgame plan is to get to the CAI fight, then surprise them by having every living member of our group pop in because they just went to sleep in our dream. 3vCAI? More like 500vCAI. That's much better odds.

Second, I think we should bring at least 700... wait. Why did Savior say we would "kill too many administrators"? We're only aiming to fight one of them. Are they all going to gang up on us at once? Like, would we be facing a combined force of system admins? If they're going to pull a united front on us, we should back off and just try to beat the CAI via my dream rush plan. We really really shouldn't just wipe out the system admins.
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No. 454991 ID: 1987d1

>20% of 800 alive
Back when Math made that estimate the 800 were specifically the people we would have to consider giving CU to upgrade themselves for self-defense when the system attacked Corruption (you know, back when we thought that was a thing that would happen). Presumably, only the living would have had a use for CU.

Do we want to consider any alternate means of sneaking into the admin's room? It seems worth it to avoid massacring all those enforcers we won't be able to absorb. Although I can't think of anything short of Glitcher, and he's still sleeping.
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No. 455005 ID: 04b86a

I think every group of Tier 3's should bring along at least two delimited Tier 2s. They'll be good support types for healing and such, will be able to help out against judges, and if they get Fortified Extra Boons I & II and give up First Strike Priority V they can get Absorb: Priority VI and Block Absorption to prevent rending. And if things go really wrong they can kill and use block absorption on each other to escape.

Of course, possibly having to massacre hundreds of enforcers isn't a pleasant thought. I mean, not even trying to save the thousands – if not millions – of people that are either alive or ghosts in someone's recursion chain is worse, but it seems like we should be trying to find another way to do this. The only other thing I can think of though is Glitcher, and while it's been long enough that we should at least go talk to him for a while he's not nearly ready to be bothered about this.
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No. 455009 ID: 886a4d

So Alison's group is about 17, King has around 4, Plus the 30 tier 3s and 6 tier 2s.

Almost 50 people.
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No. 455013 ID: 085efe
File 134775319239.png - (161.77KB , 503x954 , scruffy.png )
455013

My suggestion for Scruffy's clothing.

I also think he should get an instrument. A Cabasa if we want to drive the chain theme into the dirt. A trumpet or saxophone would be the best option I think.
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No. 455021 ID: 1987d1

>I also think he should get an instrument.
If musical skill scales with weapon strength and insta kill allows him to do infinite damage then...
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No. 455023 ID: 886a4d

>>455021
.........Get him a music talent and have him play for Glitcher. Oh my talk about soul music.
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No. 455037 ID: f09b71
File 134775778849.png - (48.97KB , 700x665 , ssf7-17.png )
455037

>Get Chomper to play music
Smuggler says that while it would be nice if he could play infinitely good music, music skill is based off of weapon rank rather than damage. Normally that is one and the same, but it won't work with chomper.

>>455013
Alison will give Scruffy these clothes when she sees him next.

>Back when Math made that estimate the 800 were specifically the people we would have to consider giving CU to upgrade themselves
This will be the measure by that, then. Wiki is updated to match.
http://tgchan.org/wiki/Unnatural_Selection_Stats#Alison.27s_House.2FDream_Statistics

Alison says if this goes badly, Chief is to murderize bones. She's leaning towards bringing as many people as possible.

How violently she puts it, he says. It'll be done, of course, and he should be able to resurrect her so long as at least one of them gets through. He'll keep a couple hundred around the safe zone to recruit and scour it for useful things. He'll also keep a couple of tier 3's around to keep on exploiting the smuggler's reselling so that by the time the safe zone starts, there will be plenty of CU to restock the tier 3's. That would leave a force of somewhere around 4700 or so with King's men.

He will work on some generic tier 3 builds that the 30 or so will follow, if Alison has anything else she'd like to do.

It would be nice if she could get glitcher's help with this, but she still knows that he may be best off still sleeping.
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No. 455042 ID: 1987d1

Sorry for being a petulant whiner about the numbers.

Interesting. So if we botch this, and get everyone killed, we get to play as Chief on the resurrection run?

Hee~. Love this scene- Succubus is adorable there.

>How violently she puts it, he says
...well, I was kind of assuming he's not going to be open for negotiation. Bones has openly declared his intent to teach me a lesson, and it looks like he's got an army out there. I was planning on going to try talking to him before the stage starts, but I'm doubtful it would work. I suppose if I'm dead, you might have a better chance at bargaining with him, but he probably won't want to let you res me.

Good luck Chief. You're smart enough to manage something on your own, and we trust you.

>Glitcher
...if he's awake, it would be worth trying to talk to him. He does offer the only known way to go directly to an admin room and bypass the massacre of all those enforcers. And we could raise the possibility of his resurrection.

But if he's still asleep, I don't think there's anything to be gained by waking him up and badgering him.
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No. 455054 ID: f09b71
File 134776107133.png - (10.17KB , 700x700 , ssf7-18.png )
455054

Alison tells Chief that she trusts him, and believes he can manage everything well if she botches this. It may have been nice to talk to him before the stage started, but it most likely won't help. Chief thanks her for that trust.

Chief has helped Alison propose tier 3 builds, divided evenly into 3 teams to make a clean 30 tier 3's total.
http://tgchan.org/wiki/Unnatural_Selection_Stats#Backup_Tier_3_Builds.2FClasses


>See if Glitcher is awake
Engineer reports that Glitcher is awake, if Alison wants to try to speak with him. He recommends at least trying it, since Glitcher will be able to move away if he doesn't want to speak.
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No. 455056 ID: 4a328b

Go talk to the Glitcher, if he'll talk with ya.
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No. 455059 ID: f2c20c

Yeah, let's go.

I want to ask him if we've ever reached the CAI with forces still alive in the dream sanctuary. Basically, bounce the dream-rush plan off him, see if it's been tried already. It would also be nice to ask him if defeating the CAI is even a good idea. Is keeping Corruptor contained important enough for us to make fixing that problem our first priority?

Basically, I don't want to ask him to do anything except, maybe, abate Scruffy's hunger a little so it doesn't gnaw away at him as much. Mostly I just want to ask him if we're going in the wrong direction. He can tell us if we're going to fail; what he can't tell is if we're going to succeed.
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No. 455060 ID: 1987d1

Definitely try talking to Glitcher. If he's willing to one last magic teleportation trick, we could bypass the whole massacre. If he's feeling better at all, we could resurrect him with the new stage clear mechanic (that was never mentioned in the logs before, it's probably fairly new).

Heck, even if he's not willing to do anything anymore, we could learn something important just by talking to him. Or if nothing else, maybe we could help him cope a little more.

If it's still a bit of a walk to him, we may need to send someone to meet Savior at the appointed time, apologize, and ask that he come back later. We're trying one last thing that might let us avoid the battle he warned us against.

If Glitcher will talk to us, there's something I want to ask him.
He remembers everything now right? Including past loops? I have to ask... are people the same each time around? Do we change?
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No. 455066 ID: 04b86a

Yeah, let's go talk to Glitcher. Since he's explicitly told us he doesn't want anything to do with the contest, though, I think we should avoid asking for him to actually do anything unless he offers. He does like us, however, so bringing up the massacre we're about to commit and asking if he thinks it's worth it just to get Arbiter's logs might be enough to elicit an offer.
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No. 455067 ID: 735f4f

Yeah getting Glitcher out of his funk and back up and running is vital. We cant force him to help us but he is the biggest wildcard we have.
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No. 455068 ID: 886a4d

Lets go see if Glitcher is willing to talk.
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No. 455080 ID: f09b71
File 134776393513.png - (67.24KB , 700x700 , ssf7-19.png )
455080

She heads off running to the glitcher, knowing that she purposely built it so far away.

He lets her come, and is even waiting outside for her.

He says that he may have overreacted a bit. He doesn't often think so much, as more often than not, he does not share his ghosts. Not even with corruptor. He did jump the gun there calling himself a 'god', as he isn't quite all powerful. Otherwise they all wouldn't be here doing the same stuff. Nonetheless, perhaps time was needed for him to just give up on giving up. If Alison wants to keep on fighting, then so be it. In hindsight of everything, after properly absorbing all that knowledge and memory, the glitcher can't do much more harm anyways. There is the matter of the savior and a united system, each with comparable strength, who are enemies of the glitcher. Their strength is probably comparable to the glitcher, hence she should be careful about her dream house. They can't touch the dream house, but it may be a matter of time before the system members find out that they can stop everyone from ever sleeping in safe zones as well as stages.

Alison asks if he thinks it is even a good idea to fight with the CAI. The glitcher doesn't know, as that is something beyond his scope. Not fighting it hasn't proved any better, though, and he thinks that winning against the CAI would be as good of a ticket as anything.

She brings him up to date on the savior and her plan, but she would like to avoid making a massacre. There is no pressure, but if he's willing to, say, put her directly in the administrator's room, that would be ideal.

Glitcher says that avoiding a massacre like that is silly. It's going to be a massacre anyways, since by a couple more stages, almost all of the remaining administrators and everyone will be dead without Alison's doing anything. Alison swooping in a couple stages early to do so is miniscule. As for going into the administrator's room, no. Lately, as in the last several tens of cycles, the later administration stages have been made all as one big room, as they have come to expect that enemy entities will swoop it at anytime, any place within. Corruptor is certainly doing similar things, Glitcher is sure.

There is one thing he's been trying though, and it would work for a battle of this scale. He has been experimenting some in his spare time with the different rulesets. So far there are platforms, tiles and freeroam that Alison has seen. The fourth one is a CAI fight. He doesn't know the rules or anything, but he might be able to change a zone into that. At least that way, if she does fight the final CAI for real, she won't have to go in blind. She will be going in blind for the administrator fight though if she chooses, but that may be ideal, especially since she`'ll likely have the numbers advantage. Something she probably will not have in the final CAI fight.

He thanks her for the house, as well. And, and the risk of sounding sappy, looking out for him respectively during all of his moodiness. He'll help as he can, but it would be best if the system and savior still thinks of him as dead. Plus, there are many things he can't do without causing disaster. For example, killing all of the administrators would plunge the remaining contestants into a default, unrestricted freeroam each stage. And by unrestricted he means as realistic as things can get, which is not a good thing when everyone is fighting to the death.
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No. 455086 ID: 886a4d

.... CAI style fight? Sign us up!

Questions.... could Glitcher restore Alison's memories of her previous cycles? Or would that be too much of a risk of driving her catatonic as well? Maybe instead of recalling them as if she lived them they would be more like something she read about. That would help to put a degree of seperation between them.

Also does Glitcher now just why the Corrupter, Saviour and himself are so different then the rest?

Since he doesn't know anything about the CAI how about the upper administration.

And finally could he enable delimeter x2 and beyond for Snuggler?
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No. 455087 ID: f2c20c

>>455080
>practice the CAI fight rules
Yes. YES. YES! Absolutely!

>unrestricted freeroam
Hmmm... we could use that to stop stage 9. Though I wonder if the resulting chaos would be much better? It depends on how well our forces can handle it, and how good we are at keeping neutral parties from turning against us.

Wait, what the hell's that in the distance? Is that a moon or a planet? We should point the observatory at it. Also, I didn't know there was water around. Is there access to the water somewhere that isn't near Glitcher's house?

Also, ask Glitcher about the void-space. Oh, and ask him if it would be possible for my dream-rush plan to work. Surely they can't keep people from sleeping in the dream, to wake up near Alison? Thirdly, ask him if he knows where those notes came from. If possible, he should send a note to himself telling himself not to kill himself, or at the least, let Alison absorb him every time, so he can recover from the shock in her dream.

Lastly, have we ever reached the CAI fight while the dream house was around? It would be interesting to know how 'new' it is. Which cycle number is this, anyway?
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No. 455091 ID: 1987d1

>Thanks for looking out for him respectively during all of his moodiness
You're our friend. We couldn't just leave you in that state, even if you didn't have god-powers we were interested in.

>savior, enemies of the glitcher
...er, we might have already invited him to the house? He doesn't know you're here, though.

Would you mind explaining why you and Savior and/or Corruptor are at odds anyways? Or what turned the earlier Corruptors and Alisons against each other? ...our logs tell us Corruptor was willing to resort to genocide at least once but...

Are people the same each loop anyways? You've met multiple versions of us, by this point.

>Mess up the admin battle with the CAI ruleset
...that should mess them up quite a bit. And it lets us learn. We'll risk it.

>Stop people from sleeping
With the insta-kill rules already in effect, that just means our runners won't have the option to escape to the house anymore, and we'll have to use ghost talk to communicate inside.

...might mean we need to upgrade Smuggler from a hider to a runner through, or else we lose access to him.

>Last question
Does he know anything about the system backups? Somehow, people can be resurrected without ghosts. Even enforcers. That means the data has to be stored somewhere. If we could get access to that... we could save everybody. Really everybody. (Assuming we find a way to stop the resets as well...)
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No. 455092 ID: b6edd6

CAI experience would be useful, but I think the single thing that we need most now is knowledge from past cycles. We can only surpass our precursors by knowing when we are not emulating them.
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No. 455095 ID: 4a328b

Don't forget to distribute hugs!

>
Does he know anything about the system backups? Somehow, people can be resurrected without ghosts. Even enforcers. That means the data has to be stored somewhere. If we could get access to that... we could save everybody. Really everybody. (Assuming we find a way to stop the resets as well...)

Yes, if he knows anything about this, it's key.
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No. 455108 ID: f2c20c

Er, wait, Savior's an enemy? He said Glitcher was dangerous, but, he didn't outright say they were enemies.

Well, we can just rescind the invite if Glitcher's uncomfortable about it.
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No. 455113 ID: f2c20c

Oh! Don't forget to tell him about Scruffy. I'm not sure it's unique to this cycle, what with Tamer having retrieved one too, but it's worth mentioning, and maybe asking what happens if two of them attack eachother.
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No. 455114 ID: 1987d1

We might also want to ask if the system knows about him, or the others at all. When Shopkeep asked how we were doing the live-ghosttalking thing, we did basically say a god did it.
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No. 455115 ID: 886a4d

A final question, can he give people traits? Or can he activate the Merchant Trait Alison has? So much hinges on Snuggler right now and risking him in the stages would be terrible.

We've encountered traits that would be interesting to use in the CAI fight. We would save them till then but invulnerability and instant death would be a nasty shock to someone not expecting it.
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No. 455129 ID: 04b86a

>CAI fight practice
YES! Have we ever told you you're awesome, Glitcher? Because you are.

>removing sleep
Yeah, I've been worried about that possibility for a while. It won't matter quite as much once this stage is over, since Savior might be able to save everyone who's willing to be saved this safe zone, but it'll still be a hit.

So, questions. First of all, can the System monitor what happens in the dream? Because we just started abusing the last available CU exploit and if they find out what it is they'll probably get rid of persistence to patch it. That's what I'd do, at least. In fact, persistence in and of itself is such a big exploit that I'm surprised they haven't already removed it.

Second, what does he know about the Upper Echelons? We know that the times King presumably kills everyone there he doesn't have enough people anymore to make it worth taking over, but we don't know any more than that.

Wait, crap, we exchanged ghosts with Savior as well as inviting him. That means Savior will be able to sense Glitcher if he comes here, although I guess he might not recognize him as Glitcher unless he sees him. Is he sure Savior's an enemy even if we aren't working with the Corruptor? And speaking of that, does the Glitcher know why the three of them are special? Savior was being secretive about that.

>>455087
Sweet unmerciful Rokoa, there is a moon back there! Why does the dream have a moon?

And as one more request, could he tell us what Savior's logs say? They could be helpful, and he's not sharing.
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No. 455158 ID: 886a4d

>the moon
Calling it now, that is system space.
>>
No. 455187 ID: 04b86a

Oh, I have an idea.

It's true that the System's abilities are comparable to Glitcher's, but that only matters if they're expecting to have to counter him. So, he could quite easily disempower or kill all of the administrators. Now as he said there not being any administrators left when a stage starts causes it to default to that horrible freeroam stage, but what if at the same time that he removed the current administrators, he gave a contestant sympathetic to Alison's cause a keycard and full administrator privileges and put them in charge of one of the System brackets? Then we would have an administrator, and that person would likely get a free ride due to a lack of competition. Not just that, but an administrator that could make virtually any change to the rulesets that they desired, due to being the only one capable of making petitions. We'd effectively have taken over the lower system, and be able to make the stages as tolerable as we'd like.
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No. 455203 ID: f09b71
File 134778552438.png - (143.39KB , 700x700 , ssf7-20.png )
455203

>Could he enable delimeter x2 and beyond for Snuggler?
At least delimiter 2. He still will need reference abilities to copy to snuggler, so Alison has to get anything extra.

>Can he restore Alison's old memories?
Possibly, but he isn't sure she could glean much for the risk involved. Again, he's stepping on eggshells now doing much.

>Does Glitcher know just why the Corrupter, Saviour and himself are so different then the rest?
They are all injected manually, as opposed to the other contestants who are all randomly generated. They don't know who made them, and only savior appears to know why he was made, just to stop whatever injected corruptor. Why corruptor was injected, who knows. As for what happened, glitcher has his side, and everyone has their own side of their story. He thinks it would be best if Alison saw for herself so that she can judge for herself without much bias. He also is reluctant, because many of his memories are second hand and incomplete. He was gaining memories involving the item that Alison gave him, which while it encompassed so much, it was not everything. He certainly would not want to feed her false information for this and many things.

>Is that a moon or a planet in the distance? Is the water accessable?
Glitcher says the water is only below a cliff. I could probably be reached with rope. The moon, not so easily. He isn't able to get to it, hence, it likely has something to do with an escape. It doesn't move, just sits on the horizon. He thinks it is a space time anamoly, similar to system space as massive light trails with brackets inside, but brackets can view every other bracket without light trails as being visible. What the details on that are, though, he doesn't know. In any case, he likes to think of the moon now as the city once was in the first dream. Maybe once they get on the moon, there will be a planet in the distance. He hopes it doesn't go that deep.

>Have we ever reached the CAI fight while the dream house was around?
Yes, glitcher says. But for whatever reason, Alison hasn't been able to bring in more people after stage 11.

>Can the system prevent people from sleeping in the dream, to wake up near Alison?
Not quite. They can't stop them from sleeping while in the dream to wake up, but they don't wake up near Alison, they wake up in her bracket. If Alison has already finished stage 11, brackets are done, and so glitcher doesn't know what happens to people who try to wake up from the dream.
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No. 455209 ID: f09b71
File 134778635673.png - (140.80KB , 700x700 , ssf7-21.png )
455209

Alison notes that the savior may have been invited to the house, but he shouldn't know that glitcher is here. Glitcher says it is fine, neither of them would care to act directly against one another. Also, hugs. She tells him he's her friend, and she couldn't just leave him, god powers or not. He thanks her, saying that, of course, Alison is his friend as well.

>Are people the same each loop anyways?
Not always. There is a baseline of personalities, but a lot of people are a bit different each time, and sometimes drastically different. Because of this, he isn't sure if there is a point in saying why Alison and Corruptor turned on each other as opposed to now, since the smallest change of personality could have drastic changes in actions.

>What does he know about the Upper Echelons?
Effectively nothing.

>Does he know anything about the system backups? Somehow, people can be resurrected without ghosts.
He doesn't know much, but yes, that is how they are able to resurrect the same trillion people each reset, even those half that die on the first stage. But that must be stored at an upper level, as high as the CAI perhaps.

Alison tells Glitcher about Chomper/Scruffy. Glitcher is somewhat intrigued, as that is entirely new. Yet it is not a big deal, new things come and go.

>What cycle are they on?
3,119.

>Could glitcher tell us what Savior's logs say?
He has an idea of what the savior would put down, but as his memories aren't all encompassing, he doesn't have them verbatim. They mostly just reinforce his ideologies, and may have pertinent information to prevent people from getting in his way to accomplishing that as an extreme case.

>Can the System monitor what happens in the dream?
No, not that he is aware.

>What if Glitcher gave Alison a keycard and full administrator privileges and put them in charge of one of the System brackets, to avoid the default case of all the administrator's being dead?
He has never had the nerve to try it again after the last time. It could work, but is untested. He thinks that stage 9 was not always so bad, but has become somewhat of a tradition to let everyone know just how bad it can get. And even still, is not as bad as the unruled defaults.

Alison does let him know that she would like to fight with the CAI ruleset. Glitcher explains what couple of things he knows about it. He doesn't know any of the internal rules, but it does take place in the voidspace Alison once teleported to. There is nothing there, since there are no cai fights at the moment. Once there is, via an item glitcher will give Alison, everyone in her region, the system space in this case, will teleport with a board or platform or whatever to set the stage.

It is also all or nothing. Everyone starts on their own side, and if one side wins, everyone on the other side dies. Glitcher expects that there is no backing out, and he isn't positive he will be able to do so if things start going badly for Alison.
>>
No. 455210 ID: 04b86a

>>455209
>Doesn't have the nerve to test taking over the Lower Echelons
Actually, thinking on this further, aside from Glitcher providing petition privileges and the like that's likely even an intended function of the contestant keycards. Which makes me all but certain that that would work, and even fully possible even if the Glitcher can't mess with a person's adminship like that. We're just three keycards short of being able to do it legitly. The only problem would be doing it without either revealing Glitcher (if we decide to go the legit route and keep him a secret) or teaming back up with the Corruptor (who would both be agreeable with what we're doing and give us more forces to do it with). Allying with the Corruptor will end up alienating Savior for sure, and having the Glitcher help will only avoid alienating him if we can do it without slaughtering everyone.

>space-time that can't be reached
We'll get some people to make a boat and find some weapon forms that would provide adequate speed.
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No. 455213 ID: c6ec33

>>455205
Sorry for more questions, but we're talking about a possible final battle vs. a system bracket here.

Ask him if he thinks he could extract insta-kill and invulnerability from Scruffy, so that you could equip more of your party with those abilities.

Also, ask him what would happen to your dream sanctuary if you died, since it seems tied to you.

And, of course, take up his offer to learn more about the past. You trust him to give you the best, most useful information he can.

Oh, and some more questions about the past:
- Has anyone ever beat the CAI? From King's notes, it sounds like he managed to win at least once, but had to trigger the reset himself because everything was fucked
- Have corrupter, glitcher and savior ever tried to work together against the CAI?

(These may be easily answered when he describes whatever information he can give us on his side of the story)
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No. 455214 ID: f2c20c

>>455205
>all or nothing
Well shit, that means we better make DAMN sure that we will win.

Hey, if the CAI fight takes place in the voidspace, then... can't we leave people there, to help us when the real fight happens? Let's experiment by having a few people already in voidspace when we fight the admin. I suspect they will wind up being a ways away from the battlefield, but perhaps we can summon them via Summon Ally.

It might also be worth considering making a jetpack or something similar so those already in voidspace can get to the battlefield fast. Hey, he mentioned that we wouldn't have a numbers advantage in the real CAI fight. Ask him how many foes there are in that fight.

>cycle 3,119
Huh. The last log entry we have is from 2867. That's a big gap. Does he know why that is?

I hope we're not bugging Glitcher with all these questions. We could probably sit here all day probing his memories, heh.

How long until our scheduled meeting with Savior? We don't want to miss it... but I guess we don't have to run back, as we can just sleep here.
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No. 455215 ID: 4a328b

It may not go well, but even we die we don't intend to mark this cycle as a complete loss. We have confidence that our friends will keep looking for a way to save everyone if we fail, and seeing how a CAI fight works should help with planning for future encounters--including the seemingly inevitable one at the end of the competition.

In the worst case scenario it goes to a reset; but the most important thing to remember is that even then all hope is NOT lost.
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No. 455216 ID: 4a328b

>Huh. The last log entry we have is from 2867. That's a big gap. Does he know why that is?

My personal guess is Sevener
>>
No. 455217 ID: f2c20c

Oh, and another thing. Would he like more notes, to get more memories? Gambler and Historian had some. Speaking of notes, where'd they come from? He has the whole memory of one of them, so it should be easy to just trace back to the beginning of it.
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No. 455223 ID: 1987d1

>Voidspace battle
It occurs to me than Alison is rather suited for movement in a zero-g environment. Her tail and prehensile hair give her a big mobility advantage over the more bipedal people. Well, assuming there's things to grab onto and move yourself relative to.

Obviously, we want our people to be prepared with a better propulsion system than the necklace one.

...the tricky bit is how do we explain what we're doing if we're keeping Gitcher a secret?

>All or nothing battle- we have to win, and can't spare anyone on the other side
BIG problem with this. If we kill the administrator, his stage unravels, and then there's no place to use the keycard!
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No. 455225 ID: e3f578

>>455209
Can he change what it means to be dead?
Can he turn death into a respawn or at least change the nature of the dreamspace, make it so that this is simply referred to the afterlife so that all non-absorbed can come here?
Can he leave a note to himself to first moment at the first safe stage without having to do whatever allows passage of the notes which we assume is make it to the end? Maybe a note that passes the giving up of giving up feeling too? If Glitcher can get to Savior and get him to destroy Corrupter before stage two next iteration... it would at least be trying something completely different, regardless of what Savior's ultimate goals are regarding Glitcher.

And, instead of giving us memories, maybe we can access the ghosts of old iterations of ourselves? They have to be stored somewhere, I think the CAI place is the only place untoched by the reboot, as the CAI keeps its memory each time I think.
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No. 455230 ID: f09b71
File 134780088303.png - (105.05KB , 700x700 , ssf7-22.png )
455230

>How long until our scheduled meeting with Savior
She still has some time to ask glitcher several questions. He says he does not mind.

>Is it possible to copy Insta-kill and Invincible
Glitcher says it should be, but the system will be able to delete those. Plus, it may not help in a CAI fight.
Plus, he adds, it seemed easy to tame. There are likely going to be quite a few people out there with it, and at least one of them is going to parade it around and get it banned for everyone quick enough.

>Would he like more notes, to get more memories?
He... really doesn't, but he admits it would help, so he will if Alison insists.

>Ask him what would happen to your dream sanctuary if you died, since it seems tied to you.
Everyone is booted out and moves into Alison's bracket or stage. If Alison is resurrected, they can come back as normal.

>Questions about the CAI
Glitcher reminds her that his knowledge seems limited towards everything contestants normally have to deal with, past the stages, he does not know.

>Can Alison leave people to help when the real fight happens?
The real fight may or may not take place in that particular section. While that section is reserved for CAI fight emulations alone, not all CAI fight's may be required to be there. In any case, they would most likely be too far away to be summoned or anything even if it did work, given the colossal scale of that area.

>Ask why there is a big gap, Alison suspects it could be sevener
It's hard to say, as there is also some larger gaps between the keycard glitcher used to get memories. It may be sevener easily, yes, as from what he does know, sevener is frequently at the last batch of administrators, and is always a major hurdle, especially as sevener's logs became more helpful against Alison. Perhaps that, but Alison may have also been getting steadily more ambitious and aggressive in fighting, and eventually bit off more than she could chew even after a sevener fight.

>Where did the notes come from?
Oh, yes. A stage 8 keycard gives the ability to leave a note, usually. Sometimes stage 9. And anywhere between a stage 6 and 10 gives the ability to leave a log.

>Can he change what it means to be dead, or turn death into a respawn or at least change the nature of the dreamspace?
Not without raising so many red flags that the system will immediately change it back.

>Can he leave a note to himself in the first moment at the first stage?
He thinks it is impossible for notes to appear before stage 6. He apologizes.

>If we kill the administrator, his stage unravels
It takes some time for that to happen, during which Alison can hop in and use the card quickly. Glitcher will be able to pull her out even if the stage does die while she's inside.
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No. 455233 ID: 1987d1

>He... really doesn't, but he admits it would help, so he will if Alison insists.
We're very sorry, but information is really our only hope for success. We may have to try.

>A stage 8 keycard gives the ability to leave a note, usually. Sometimes stage 9. And anywhere between a stage 6 and 10 gives the ability to leave a log.
Wha- what means in a least one run we made Shopkeep an admin. Crazy! How the heck did we talk him into that?

Logs are one per loop, and notes are one per person. I'm going to assume to don't have to write them in the admin room thy become available? A lot of our logs look like they were written right before the end.

Alright, I think that's just about everything. Thank him for the help, we're glad he's feeling better.
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No. 455239 ID: e3f578

>>455230
Is the system we refer to that can change things either the CAI, upper echelon, or is it a bunch of administrators?
Seems a little too meddlesome for the administrators to do, and if they could change things, they could just change it it so they couldn't have to die if they're not as an efficient administrator. The upper echelons or the CAI seems to be the only type of thing with a different kind of motivation than survival, if you don't count Sevener and other possibly ambitious admins with good work ethic, but I doubt even Sevener loves the death of so many contestants and system people. Are these assumptions even slightly correct?
I'd love to pin down the motivations of those who aren't in this for just survival and maybe greed of CU, so, hey, if Glitcher can give us some of those than great.
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No. 455244 ID: 886a4d

Ya I think we've asked all the questions we could. The only newer notes I could think of is from Historian or Radadmin. However maybe we should save those till after we do the fight. The corrupter's logs might prove that we don't need them.


.... I'm still considering whether we should have Alison remember everything shes ever done. It would answer A LOT of questions, at the very least on what not to do. I personally think we should risk it but .... well its risky to the extreme.
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No. 455247 ID: e3f578

>>455244
oh yeah I forgot to put in my vote for this
Yeah I just say fucking do it.
Cost of insanity doesn't outweigh the benefits, I bet if you do it this iteration, it'll be the first iteration you've done it in and while, it is neither a 100% guarantee you'll succeed at the CAI fight, it'll improve you chances immensely. You're one of the few players to fight it consistently. And even if you don't gain those memories, well, you'll improve your chances elsewhere.
If you take the chance, and something horrible happens to you, make sure Glitcher doesn't ever blame himself for letting it happen. And Alison, you always remember who you were now and before you got your memories back. You've never committed any of the deeds from before, these are people that you could've become if you made different choices and embrace that fact. You never made the bad choices Alison, you got to here, which is where it can ALL change. Make strength from this fact, do not grow weak from the revelation.
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No. 455250 ID: 1987d1

>>455244
We gave him Alison's note, right? He could still theoretically pull info from Recluse's, Arbiter's, Historian's, Radmin's.

We don't have immediate access to them, but Shopkeep and King have notes we might be able to run through him too. Possibly some of King's allies as well.

Corruptor has a note, but that's currently out of reach. It's likely Sevener, Savior, or the other big players (house Lords) may have found notes as well.

>have Alison remember everything shes ever done
The biggest risk is a personality overload. How do we know 'our' Alison will be the dominant personality afterwards? Glitcher confirmed we're not the same every time round- we may not change for the better. Especially if our Alison is one of the 'better' versions- an average or amalgamation can't help but be worse.

We also run the risk of major PTSD, if we get the memories of every time we've gone bad, been responsible for something awful, or seen ourselves and our friends die, time and time again. I mean, it's taken Glitcher around a thousand cycles to come to terms with doing basically the same thing.

I say we do one crazy thing at a time anyways. We've committed to the zero-g CAI-style administration fight, let's prepare for that. We'll worry about recklessly hacking our own head later.
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No. 455253 ID: 1987d1

>>455252
If we don't attack, we lose out on the CAI test battle. Which I don't think we've done before, as this is the first time Glitcher has snapped out of it.

Again, the memory thing seems very high risk, Glitcher isn't convinced it would even work well, and it possibly blows our chance to use Glitcher in secret.
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No. 455254 ID: 886a4d

>>455250
If we remember we won't need to attack. I'm sure we've seen the corrupters logs before. We can save the cai fight test for when we face off vs bones. Its not like we have any shortage of enemies.
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No. 455261 ID: 4a328b

Where are we getting the idea that we can get access to all our memories? The only memories Glitcher's mentioned thus far are HIS OWN as they relate to the note we gave him earlier.

At least ask if it's POSSIBLE to get some of our memories back somehow-likely with some severe limitations-before we get too worked up about this as some sort of fountain of wisdom.

I agree with doing one crazy thing at a time, given how overwhelmed Glitcher was when he got some of his memories back. It's one thing to /think/ you can handle it, but memories can be unexpectedly visceral!
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No. 455267 ID: 886a4d

>>455261
Glitcher said it was possible we could retrieve our own memories here >>455203. I personally think its worth the risk.
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No. 455270 ID: 4a328b

>>455267
Derp I somehow missed that.

I think it's worth the risk AFTER we deal with some pressing matters.

And in the case of an emotional meltdown maybe we can ask Glitcher to slow time a bit in the area so we can recover ourselves before the stage starts, if it won't draw unwanted attention.

Or, even better, we can consider letting the very very few people who should know glitcher's awake know about the high-risk possibility of memory recovery. Someone like Engineer who is all about the SCIENCE! might be interested in what his past selves came up with so he can work from there, for example.

But at the moment we are about to do a CAI fight; we need to keep ourselves from having a breakdown during that.
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No. 455274 ID: 886a4d

>>455268
Slowing time in the dream sounds like something that won't be noticed. He could probably also move the observatory to the seashore so we can look at the moon, not near his own house though since he does want to remain alone. Maybe set up teleporters between the house and the observatory. Chief should talk to those of our house to keep it quiet in front of visitors from the Saviour though and we should confer with Glitcher about bringing the King up to date with his existence.

Another thing that might not be noticed might be personally resurrecting people who die in the real world once they arrive at the dream. As long as they don't leave again it should be fine. It'd be a trump card for if we ever need them and we do figure out how to do a dream rush. Though I have no idea if that would set off red-alerts.

That brings me to Chomper and Persistence. We need to not use either in stages or rest areas. Unless its life or death. Persistence is needed for our CU exploit. I wonder if Glitcher could make items that use trait abilities for say a turn.

Also I believe theres some 1-ups still floating around. Could Glitcher use that to give ShopKeep access to them?

----

Delim X 2 access and time slowing. If we can't use it because of time constraints before Saviour save this for after the battle.

Welp we just got upgrades to our people so for our main cast I'll take this to the discussion board and let Chief handle our 3 teams. We're gonna need em if we'll be facing thousands of enforcers or 1000 of Bones people.
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No. 455275 ID: 04b86a

>Everyone is booted out and moves into Alison's bracket or stage.
What? No! The System's started adding validation flags! That means if Alison dies at any point after the start of Stage 7, everyone dies. If he can't add a second person who we can keep here as a backup, can he at least have them dumped into Savior's paradise or something?

It's sounding like we should switch our target back to Sevener, if he's been leaving so many log entries about how to deal with us. He won't be any more prepared for a CAI fight than we are.

>>455254
On the other hand, you have a point. Our fight with Sevener will be lot easier if we know what the rules will be like.

Wait, can we challenge Bones before the stage starts? That would get us a practice fight in and, if we win, make things easier on Chief if we somehow lose to Sevener after that, although fighting Bones now may give him a numbers advantage. Why does Glitcher think we'll have a numbers advantage against an administrator, anyway? They should have hundreds of enforcers and who knows how many hunters and we're only planning of bringing around 50 people, so does he expect us to make a few last second recruits after getting there?
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No. 455278 ID: 1987d1

>>455275
>Why does Glitcher think we'll have a numbers advantage against an administrator, anyway?
They have hundreds. Together, King and Alison have a few thousand. Even if we're not bring everyone, we can still outnumber them.

>Challenge Bone to CAI fight
The only problem is the fight is a zone-type shift, not a teleport. Like when Corruptor turned the safe zone into a freeroam. We're playing on converting the admin-tiles to CAI-fight. To do the same vs Bones, we'd need a location. Turning the safe zone into a CAI-fight seems a bad idea- since you have to kill everyone not on your side, that would include all the unaligned contestants, and the npcs (shopkeeps, etc).

Also, it seems likely the CAI ruleset is weighted to favor people with a numerical advantage. We may not outnumber Bones' forces. (He can certainly field more tier 3s than us, at least).

>It's sounding like we should switch our target back to Sevener, if he's been leaving so many log entries about how to deal with us.
...yeah. Especially since he or she is only gonna get stronger if we leave 'em be. Taking out the most capable admin, who harbors a grudge against us, with our surprise new tactic seems reasonable. Although he or she may be best suited to try and cope with the surprise CAI fight.
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No. 455287 ID: 886a4d

Alright you have a point in the fact that Sevener is a pretty big threat to us if left alive. So I guess I'm supporting taking the battle to her.

As for the Bones fight I meant for it to take place when we inevitably face off at the end of stage 7.

Hmm I was just thinking about Summon Ally and the CAI fight. We know abilities change depending on rulesets. Could Glitcher tweak Summon Ally to work into dreamspace only when in a CAI fight? Or maybe extend it so it works throughout the entirity of null space instead of only with connected platforms?
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No. 455290 ID: b6edd6

Wait... If Glitcher, Savior, and Corruptor were all injected manually rather than randomized, would that mean that they do not have the same major personality variations everyone else has? That would imply that the Corruptor who 'destroyed everything' had at least the same starting personality as our one.
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No. 455293 ID: f2c20c

I think we should get Historian's note to Glitcher. Historian's memories will likely include much less battle and death, as he's a bookworm. I mostly want to see if he's ever discovered anything important in his studies.

Heck, just tell Glitcher who has notes we can access, and if he thinks there would be one whose memories wouldn't be so bad, we'll get him that one. Adding new memories should probably be done only a little at a time, regardless. I'm not saying we should insist on him adding new memories; only suggest some ways to do it that might not be so bad. If he does choose to take on new memories, it'd probably be best if we wait before doing so. Give him more time to relax; he's only just now gotten used to the burden of the first batch of memories!

Oh! Speaking of Historian, mention the unusual book he's been messing with, and ask if Glitcher could restore it to an unburned state.
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No. 455310 ID: f09b71
File 134783025526.png - (68.52KB , 700x700 , ssf7-23.png )
455310

>Get a note for glitcher to get
Glitcher says okay. He may have some trouble teleporting a single person, though, to him. This sort of work is difficult to affect people directly, he can only do so through items and whatnot. He would be able to return to the house quickly enough, but that would give him away. He may want to wait until after Alison fights Sevener, as he doubts that the fight would become unnecessary. Alison thinks that as well.

>Backup the house to someone else
That he can do. He'll set it up so that if Alison dies, everyone in the dream will end up in Savior's sanctuary. It will be a surprise to him, but not a bad one.

>Give 1-up access to people
Last time he did this, the system found out pretty quick and deleted all the one ups. Delim x2 may be doable though, although Alison will need more time to be able to spend that much CU to most people. Same with making items. He can do it, but the system can undo it and then some.

>Check in on Scholar/Historian, fix up the burnt pages of Historian's book
Historian, Alison knows, has been feverishly studying. He most likely has more theories, but she is sure he would have told her if something came up that was particularly time sensitive. Scholar has been helping around whoever needs it.

Alison asks again about getting her memories, probably after the fight.

She is given an item, saying to use this when she reaches the system bracket and wants to fight like a CAI. He says, again, that it is possible, but says that the process may be something that given the way it works, it may go over about as well as 'safe' glitching tricks that he taught his ill fated apprentices.

He does hope for a keycard or note that would imply things that happen as late as possible. As the cycles go on and on, his memories get more sparse. And because of that, he is worried a bit about sevener, as Glitcher wouldn't know how much that admin knows by now.

There isn't much time to spare before the savior arrives. Alison might be able to do small tasks, but otherwise should get ready to go.
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No. 455311 ID: 6a1ec2

At least it's a good last resort. You don't really want to remember Mafia Alison anyway.
>>
No. 455313 ID: 886a4d

So no slowing down time for just the dream, oh well. I can't think of anything else to do.

>1 Ups
Again they wouldn't be for general access but for the CAI fight. Myabe save activating them until stage 11 then, similarily for moving traits over to people.
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No. 455316 ID: 4a328b

Time to fight. See you again soon, hopefully!
>>
No. 455317 ID: f2c20c

>>455310
>it may go over about as well as 'safe' glitching tricks that he taught his ill fated apprentices.
Hookay NEVERMIND then.

>As the cycles go on and on, his memories get more sparse.
That's... not a good sign. Does he think it's because we keep getting killed by Sevener when we invade them? If so... well, it will be very good practice for the CAI fight, indeed.

Hey, speaking of note-memories, will he be able to remember this conversation due to the note being present? Maybe he'll be less likely to kill himself in future cycles, or at least more likely to give Alison his ghost.
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No. 455320 ID: 04b86a

>he is worried a bit about sevener, as Glitcher wouldn't know how much that admin knows by now
Well then it's a good thing we just decided to use the CAI fight on him or her. The sooner Sevener's gone, the better.

So, we have a couple thousand maxed Tier 2's. I think we should bring about half of them along for this, since sheer numbers might end up being valuable. Someone else can organize that, though, since we should also have a bunch of new recruits that need invited here.
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No. 455321 ID: 4a328b

Probably getting ahead of myself here, but I had an idea. Suppose ONE of the remaining twenty administrators is open to the idea of working with us to try and break the cycle and save everyone. If one is amenable to the idea, and this fight goes well, we might try to take out the other 19 administrators, ensuring that the friendly admin becomes admin of the remaining stages by default.

This is assuming we can find a friendly one remaining, of course.
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No. 455326 ID: 1987d1

>As the cycles go on and on, his memories get more sparse
...that's not just due to the fact he started committing suicide pretty much every loop around S6?

>Memory retrieval may go over about as well as 'safe' glitching tricks
So in addition to the preposterous risk to identity and personality if successful, there's an additional, sizable risk the procedure may be unsuccessful and outright kill Alison. (Do glitch deaths leave ghosts?). I'm going to say this isn't worth the risk for now.

I can't think of anything else to do. Thank Glitcher for his help, you'll be back to see him again. You hope.

Time to take our army and challenge Sevener. Make your demands, and if they won't let you into the admin room? Push the button.

>>455321
This idea is why Sixer's demotion was so disappointing. Having administration actually on our side would have been fantastic.
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No. 455327 ID: 886a4d

>>455326
You know Sixer never actually was demoted. I bet he still has his System tag. He went to sleep just before he was deleted. All Glitcher would need to do is set his card to the stage.
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No. 455334 ID: f09b71
File 134783515627.png - (78.53KB , 700x700 , ssf7-24.png )
455334

>Are his memories just getting spare because of his suicide?
No, he reminds her that the memories he got were things involving Alison's note. Sometimes it got passed around, and so it isn't limited to just Alison, but that is the central base point. And that note hasn't had much action in the last many cycles for some reason. Although now that he is thinking about that, that fact is beginning to trouble him. Even if Alison has had a rough patch of a hundred cycles or whatever, he finds it hard to believe that she suddenly stopped having any luck getting to stage six. The note just seemed to stop giving data after awhile.

He might want to see Arbiter's note after all before she goes, even if Alison has to delay the savior.
>>
No. 455335 ID: 886a4d

>>455334
Alright, lets do so.
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No. 455336 ID: f2c20c

>>455334
I think the CAI is hiding something. Something we discovered during the last 300 cycles. It's been deleting our logs when we try to tell the next cycle, and it disabled the note's history each cycle too.

Let's do it. We'll crack this egg wide open.
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No. 455337 ID: 04b86a

>>455336
This is a good point. It also goes along with Sevener's comment that we have logs missing. Let's bring the Historian's note, too.
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No. 455338 ID: 886a4d

In order to get it here faster we can ask Arbiter through ghost talk and have Strongarm or Atlas accompany him to speed up his progress.
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No. 455339 ID: 1987d1

...oh gods, I couldn't bear it if Arbiter's been hiding something from us and playing some kind of double game. ;A;

Let's ask Arbiter. Make it clear we don't need to read the note, since it's personal, Glitcher just wants to try a trace on it since it seems more recent than Alison's.
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No. 455341 ID: 4a328b

>>455336
Crack open, fry it up, have it for breakfast. Or brunch. Dinner's kind of stretching it.

Might want to dispatch a messenger about our possible tardiness so we aren't snubbing major powers.
>>
No. 455343 ID: f09b71
File 134783596958.png - (8.53KB , 700x700 , ssf7-25.png )
455343

Alison tells glitcher she'll be back, and wakes up and falls asleep again to get to her house and tell Arbiter. He asks if she wanted to come along as well after telling the savior to come back later, or to wait around here to be able to do other things while waiting for Arbiter's return to explain what the glitcher found out. He will also bring historian's note as well as anything else Alison would like.
>>
No. 455348 ID: 886a4d

Hmm, you know we can get whatever information we need via ghost talk from Glitcher. I kinda want to travel with Arbiter though since this is the sorta thing you want to be there for.
>>
No. 455350 ID: 04b86a

Is it too late to ask Glitcher to just teleport himself to Alison's bedroom? Then Arbiter wouldn't have to travel all the way there and no one would know Glitcher was there.
>>
No. 455351 ID: 886a4d

>>455350
Errrrrr.... ya. That should be easy for him.
>>
No. 455352 ID: f2c20c

>>455343
...before we bring historian's note... who else read the CAI book? We should verify that it was burned already when we got it. There's a nagging sense of paranoia about his note, since it's handwritten and thus different from the others. Wouldn't it suck if it turns out he was a spy sent by the CAI?

I say we go with Arbiter. This is important enough that we should find out in person. Besides, we don't have much else to do at the moment, aside from explore the safe zone, and we can do that later.
>>
No. 455353 ID: 1987d1

Grab Recluse's note too, although I think that one's older than Arbiter's or Historians (Corruptor, Alison, Recluse, Arbiter, Historian is what I think the order is. Ignoring other notes we don't have context for).

Go with Arbiter. Glitcher exposition is more valuable than ordering things around. People should be able to run things without you for a little bit- they're all capable. Make sure someone meets and apologizes to savior, though.
>>
No. 455355 ID: 04b86a

>>455353
No, Corruptor's clearly came after Recluse's. Recluse's note suggested Corruptor was talking Alison into distrusting the note enough to not use the S. 6 keycard.
>>
No. 455383 ID: 735f4f

Worst case this could be signs that the system we are in is degrading. Data lose and the rule sets falling apart here and there could be signs of needing maintenance on the main system. Yet another reason to get this fixed before its to late.
>>
No. 455394 ID: f09b71
File 134784411448.png - (104.43KB , 700x700 , ssf7-26.png )
455394

Alison sends duelist off to meet the savior, hoping that it won't be problematic. Although it is too late to have glitcher teleport directly to her, he is already waiting at the base of the large building with her house, just out of sight. With that, it only takes a few minutes overall to get to him.

Arbiter hands him his notes, obviously self conscious about it. Glitcher doesn't seem to notice or care, and simply takes it and retrieves its memories.

Most of it is, as expected, learning the same stuff. There are later ones, though, and this does confirm some suspicion he was having. He recalls notes, especially Arbiter's, being destroyed. Yet not once was Alison's note destroyed. Specifically, the note is pulled out of inventory and burned physically, that is, not just disappearing as the owner dissolves under death. Now that he sees Arbiter's note, he does not have any new recollection about cycles in which Arbiter's note was destroyed, but he does learn about cycles that involved the destruction of Alison's note. Even though he didn't think it would have worked like that.

Namely, it turns out that this isn't the first time Alison has been in an emulated CAI fight. Sevener has learned how to do this as well, and is fully attempting to be able to beat the CAI after stage 11. It turns out that glitcher wasn't needed at all, as Sevener would make the fight a CAI fight anyway. All the while, sevener is completely unwilling to work with Alison. Glitcher is certain there is a reason sevener hates Alison, but that reason still eludes him.
>>
No. 455395 ID: f09b71
File 134784412575.png - (55.92KB , 700x700 , ssf7-27.png )
455395

Arbiter asks if he's done much against Alison some cycles. Glitcher looks at him as though he asked if they were in Alison's dreamland right now. Yes, Arbiter has killed Alison himself on a multitude of locations. Sometimes he felt bad, sometimes they were only Arbiter and Alison by name but were otherwise unrecognizeable. And sometimes, the Arbiter finally got around to admitting his love for Alison instead of dancing around waiting until it's too late. Seriously, she already has a good idea of what the note says.

But most concerningly is that the glitcher knows that Sevener has been winning the CAI fights. He speculates that each time, a log is left by Sevener, most likely explaining the CAI ruleset for future reference to do better and better. The first couple wins may have been a luck, but since then, Sevener has had an advantage to make up for bad numbers. Most likely few enough logs have been left such that there is still much guesswork involved. Glitcher would still recommend either trying a CAI fight, now or later, but not a normal fight. A normal fight has always, always gone poorly, even if Alison sometimes wins that. The trick is that Collectives, that is, shopkeeps and judges, cannot go into a CAI fight. Therefore they are limited to hunters and enforcers. In a normal fight, Alison is swarmed by thousands of judges. And while it may be sensible to get practice in via blind fights with, say, Bones, that sort of massive rule breaking may give the administration some kind of excuse to take drastic measures against Alison.

But every CAI fight, even if Alison is resurrected by the uncommon victor's resurrection feature such as this stage 7's, Alison says that her note was yanked from her and ripped up, apparently removing any memories of the CAI fight, and that cycle, through the note.

Alison asks about historian's note.

Glitcher says that that one is extraordinarily new. Historian only began approaching Alison like this a few cycles ago. There isn't much to glean from it, unfortunately, but he will work on the book while Alison is gone. Historian can probably break new ground.

>Speaking of note-memories, will he be able to remember this conversation due to the note being present?
Assuming it is not destroyed. With the way things have been going, that should be possible.

>Who else read the CAI book?
Iso has still taken a look at it, but he didn't look far enough ahead to see any burnt pages early on.
>>
No. 455396 ID: 6a1ec2

Aww, looks like Arbiter needs a hug.
>>
No. 455397 ID: 886a4d

Give Alison's note to Strongarm while we battle. If Alison dies Glitcher should immediately pull Strongarm out of the battle so the note is preserved.

Strongarm isn't a regular, he isn't ever on our lists or known well, however he is one of our longest supporters and he's pretty intelligent considering he helped designed our battle language. If we get Seveners keycard could Glitcher get us access to Seveners logs? We could use that intelligence ourselves.

Plans for the battle:

Bring half our tier 2s. Same plan as before for our tier 3s as well as Chompers. They will be our ace in the hole. They might be only good for this stage so lets make it count.
>>
No. 455398 ID: 1987d1

>Arbiter has been an enemy in the past, and is in lurv.
...it's cool, Arbiter. We'd kind of already guessed both of those.

Hand on his shoulder, reassuring smile, Alison. (Although now that that's in the open, what do we do about the love triangle?)

>Sevener
...I suppose then the logical thing to do is take the CAI fight to a different admin. Get us some real-world experience with an unprepared enemy, then we'll be better off to face Sevener and his or her logged information, later.

>Note destruction
Does the note have to be where the memories take place to record? Could we leave it here for safe keeping? And then Alison keeps coming back to it to pass on her memories to it?

...does this mean someone in our faction is going to betray us? Someone we know takes the note from Alison and destroys it each time around.

>Chompers
...I can't wait till Scruffy meets whoever the other chomper has become. Fingers crossed for girl-scruffy and chomper love at first sight.
>>
No. 455399 ID: f2c20c

>>455395
Tell Arbiter it's okay, there's no need to be embarrassed.

It sounds like fighting Sevener will result in a battle where they have the advantage in information. We need to have an overwhelming numbers advantage to ensure we keep the upper hand. Also, we should leave the note with someone else for safekeeping during the battle, so Sevener doesn't snatch it. Wait, no. Make a DECOY note and carry that during the battle, handing over the real note to someone else that comes with you. Then we can keep the info. As for the admin cards, I think we can leave them outside the battle.

Hang on, can Glitcher glean any memories from the admin cards? It would be nice to know where they came from, as well. Or maybe he already knows that.

Hang on, was Alison's note the only note ever brought into a CAI fight? Did Gambler or Arbiter ever participate and keep their note?
>>
No. 455401 ID: 1987d1

Oh, wait, one last idea.

>should be possible to copy Insta-kill and Invincible
>someone is going to parade it around and get it banned for everyone quick enough

Doesn't it therefore make sense to abuse this now, before it gets banned? The system can't respond instantaneously. We could show up with an invincible army and steamroll Sevener, despite his or her edge. Glitcher said the chomper thing was completely new- there should be no warning!

...this all depends on how the system deleting things works, though. I assume admins have to confer, or petition to upper management? Sevener can't just remove those traits when we show up with them.
>>
No. 455403 ID: 886a4d

Arbiter must have since he has witnissed Alison's battles. You know what would be ideal? Getting Seveners note if there is any.

I have a job for you Bandit.

Oh and there is one way to get CAI fight experiance. We restore our memories. Now.
>>
No. 455404 ID: 085efe

>>455403I am also for memory restoration.
>>
No. 455406 ID: f09b71
File 134784602860.png - (55.29KB , 700x700 , ssf7-28.png )
455406

>If Sevener's keycard is gained, could glitcher hijack it?
It's worth a shot, if Alison wins, it won't hurt to take it. Alison will be sure to keep Bandit on hand for that if it is necessary.

>Restore memories
Glitcher reminds Alison that doing so could unceremoniously blow her up, as this is a fringe case of being somewhere between being the subject of a glitch and doing the glitching. Plus, she wouldn't learn anything that the glitcher didn't know, as she would still be learning of an item's history, not her own. He doesn't want to test using Alison as the item.

>Did Gambler or Arbiter ever participate and keep their note?
Glitcher wouldn't know about Gambler's note, but Arbiter hasn't participated directly as far as the glitcher can tell. There might be something difficult to remember that post resurrected Alison said about the rules, but Glitcher will let her know if he thinks of anything. It is difficult to explain the difficulty in getting years of memories in a single swoop. It's obviously easier the second time, though.

>Does the note have to be where the memories take place to record?
Yes, so if she comes back, it won't be enough. However, if she recites the battle to the keycard, that will be good enough.

Glitcher gives another hidden inventory item to Alison,saying to give it a buzz if she needs him. He'll be going to his house again, thanking her for it again. He at least needs a moment to relax before continuing, but otherwise she is welcome to summon him shortly.

Arbiter hugs Alison, and vice versa, when they are alone. Alison says it's fine, there's no need to be embarrased. Like the glitcher said, she was already thinking that was the case. He lingers a bit longer on the hug than normal, wanting to say or ask something.
>>
No. 455408 ID: 886a4d

I... have no idea how to react. I like Arbiter but Iso .... GAH.

harem master Alison!
>>
No. 455410 ID: f2c20c

>>455406
Maybe we should try to hook up Iso with Musician, once we get past this stage.

Also, KISS HIM YOU FOOL.
>>
No. 455414 ID: 1987d1

>If Sevener's keycard is gained, could glitcher hijack it?
This is the best idea. If Sevener's been compiling data on the CAI fight, that could be very useful in facing the actual CAI.

Of course, there's the small problem of getting it from him or her.

>unceremoniously blow her up, wouldn't learn anything that the glitcher didn't know, Glitcher doesn't want to risk it.
There's more than considerable risk to restoring memories, and less and less rewards each time we bring it up. Let's not try it.

>Arbiter
Let him speak. There's a decent chance we'll all be dead soon, if he's finally found the will to speak, he deserves the chance. We'll react afterwards.

>What to do about the CAI battle?
I think the obvious choice is to take on an admin who isn't prepared, and get Arbiter's logs (if we're both ignorant of the rules, hopefully our numerical and cleverness advantage will buy us victory). We'll deal with sevener later- when our real world experience will trump his or her logged hints.

Alternatively, we build an invincible / insta kill army while we still can, and steamroll Sevener with it when he or she thinks he or she has the edge.
>>
No. 455415 ID: e3f578

>>455406
Keep the note you first gave Glitcher in a safe place. Don't have it in your inventory. If things manage to happen the same way again, Glitcher may keep the feelings of giving up on giving up next cycle.

Give it to Smuggler. He'll hardly be in danger thanks to his merchant abilities, everyone will want to keep him alive for black market access when he has to be in the stage, that is if they are aware of him. And everyone who doesn't give a shit will have to fight everyone who does cares. Bones will probably even keep him alive for that purpose alone, he's been blacklisted too, probably.
Smuggler will most definitely make it to the end stages with you if freeroam or system players don't happen to mess him up.
>>
No. 455418 ID: 4a328b

Kiss ze guy, already

Edit: Yeah hear what he has to say first then kiss.
>>
No. 455419 ID: 1987d1

>>455415
This is actually very clever. Smuggler is the smartest place to hide the note if we just want to preserve it so next time (if there is one) Glitcher retains these memories of getting over things.
>>
No. 455420 ID: 886a4d

I kinda want to face off Sevener anyway. For one thing she has faced the CAI as well. Indeed shes the only one we have confirmation of doing so besides Alison. For another perhaps we can convince her to instead of fighting us to work together. Its a long shot but I think the best way to win is to do the impossible and have a dual-type CAI upgrade. Which means we need both System winners AND contest winners. We know of the Contest win conditions but what are the System win conditions and how do we help them succeed.

I'm sorta convinced that in order to get out of here we need to have both win.
>>
No. 455423 ID: 04b86a

Well, we do really like Arbiter, and our relationship with Iso has struck me as being similar to a childhood crush lately. And we're planing on bringing that musician he befriended back in Stage 2 back. So, I think the answer to the question he's still too nervous to ask is snake kiss.

On the subject of notes, if the notes can tell Glitcher everything that happened around them, what would the note being held by Shopkeep tell us?
>>
No. 455425 ID: 1987d1

>>455420
You may be right that we need a united system / contestant alliance to win. But Sevener seems to be spoiling for a fight right now, and is planning to surprise us with the CAI rules and kill us when we arrive. He or she doesn't want to talk right now. We will need a stronger position than just showing up to hope to convince him or her.

>>455423
>Iso v Arbiter
I think it would be really unfair to not give Iso the chance to express his feelings if we give Arbiter the chance here. If we have to chose, we should know how everyone involved feels, first.
>>
No. 455426 ID: 886a4d

Well if it doesn't work, it doesn't work but we always try diplomacy first.
>>
No. 455427 ID: f09b71
File 134784945847.png - (134.33KB , 700x700 , ssf7-29.png )
455427

Alison lets a good chunk of a minute pass as the Arbiter fidgets. Finally he says that they should go back upstairs. It was painfully obvious that that is not what he had so much difficulty in saying, and figures that he shouldn't be so reluctant when everyone could die again. But mostly, even when he says that, he still lingers in just a bit close to her face.

So she kisses him for another chunk of that minute before heading back up and getting back to business.
>>
No. 455428 ID: f09b71
File 134784947066.png - (12.89KB , 700x700 , ssf7-30.png )
455428

>Shopkeep
Alison's memory is failing her if shopkeep ever got himself a note.

>Give note to strongarm or smuggler
Alison will choose smuggler first, and tells him to give it to Strongarm if possible and Smuggler thinks he is in great danger and strongarm is, for whatever reason, not.

Duelist comes to her as well, saying that while he was in the safe zone telling Savior to please wait for another hour or two, which he will, the shopkeep came by and said that Sevener sent a letter to Alison. Shopkeep was insistent that he was only the messenger again, but Duelist has not taken a look to see what it says.

Also, Savior says that he can take her to her own bracket with the hostile administrator one or to any others. Alison is in bracket 7 of stage 7. Corruptor is in 14, council is in 2, Obliterator is in 8 and and Swordsbane is in 10.
>>
No. 455429 ID: 886a4d

Lets read the letter.
>>
No. 455430 ID: f09b71
File 134784965816.png - (17.99KB , 700x700 , ssf7-31.png )
455430

It is not exactly a letter after all.
>>
No. 455431 ID: 735f4f

We are the main character we get to go the harem route if we want. Besides I think alot of our friends might be harboring feelings for us by this point. Live for the moment and all.
>>
No. 455432 ID: b9face

Part of me wants to respond so badly with just the typical "Ur a fagot" letter, but part of me actually doesn't care what the bitch thinks.
>>
No. 455435 ID: 735f4f

I think we are being baited into a fight. Just maybe.
>>
No. 455436 ID: 886a4d

rolled 4 = 4

Hah! She really, really wants to fight us. Now I want to spite her. Send a note up to her saying that we've fought on her territory enough times. Come out of your fortress and fight us like a real contestent. Come play in stage 7 and we'll see how far she gets then.


Lets go fight Bracket [dice roll]'s Administrator instead.
>>
No. 455437 ID: 4a328b

Tell her you think her drawing is hilarious and she should most definitely persue her artistic talent.

You look forward to seeing her future masterpieces.
>>
No. 455438 ID: 1987d1

>>455435
Ya think?

Let's send a response, right before we go attack some otheradmin. One none of our know friends, allies, or enemies have access to. Last thing we need is a three way fight. (Unless we want to team up with Corruptor to get his logs?)

Dear Sevener
I think my collective intelligence is enough to see through your artificial attempts to draw me into a fight.
>>
No. 455439 ID: 04b86a

>>455428
>Alison is having memory problems
Let's fix that. >>/questarch/442790
But come to think of it, if the note was somehow associated with Alison then that would explain how he remembered it, so it could have been found by some random Shopkeep instead of the master copy or something like I originally assumed, so that note could be gone by now. Darn.

>>455430
Oh, gods, that fanart's been ascended to canon status, hasn't it? I mean, aside from the stars that was probably even one of the previous CAI fights. We should buy some sports boons from Snuggler.
>>
No. 455449 ID: 4a328b

>>455438
Dear Sevener [Or 'Adwinistrator'--I must admit, it is pretty catchy]

I can't really blame you for wanting to have a big ol' CAI fight with the homefield advantage and several hundred cycles of practice--I was contemplating challenging you to one myself! But this brilliant editorial commentary has really opened my eyes: What are we doing wasting our time with grudge matches when we should obviously be pursuing our artistic careers in the wider world! I myself am quite fond of music, and with your masterpieces, you're bound to take the world by storm!

Thank you for opening my eyes, and please, keep me informed about any future masterpieces.

Hugs,
Alison
>>
No. 455454 ID: 886a4d

>>455449
Slip this in the box, and just leave without picking up the reply. Let her stew on it while answering in her slow time hell. Then lets go fight... Bracket 4's administrator.
>>
No. 455456 ID: f09b71
File 134785372030.png - (14.03KB , 700x700 , ssf7-32.png )
455456

Alison isn't sure she cares to respond, but decides to give a short, plain letter. She is also tempted to talk about expanding her artistic merit, and that she enjoyed the letter, but she didn't. It is kind of petty and Alison doesn't like to play liar.

>I understand you would want to fight me with the homefield advantage and hundreds of cycles of practice, and I was thinking of challenging you myself! But we've fought you in your territory enough, so I think you should leave your fortress and fight us like a real contestant in stage 7. It is also clear that you are trying to bait me into a fight, obviously so.
>Reluctant hugs,
>Alison

She has Duelist go and put it in the question box. Meanwhile, Chief says it's about time to make the tough decision of if she's going nearly all in, halfsies or what.
>>
No. 455457 ID: f2c20c

Okay hang on. Let's think about this tactically.

We know how many Enforcers that Sevener will have. In the next stage, will she have more or less? And will we have more or less troops? Will we have a bigger advantage in numbers in this stage, or the next one?

Heck, ask Mathematician about it. Consider that we have a large, LARGE group of people that are stage-flagged and will be eliminated this stage because there's a strict 10-person exit limit.
>>
No. 455458 ID: 886a4d

Lets bring everyone.
>>
No. 455460 ID: 1987d1

>>455458
We need to leave behind enough people with Chief that he has a chance of surviving Bones and Resurrecting Alison.
>>
No. 455466 ID: 6a1ec2

Dear Sevener

Thank you for your appreciation of my large breasts. If you would like to participate in a threefoursome between me Iso and Arbiter please meet me at stage 7 which we are turning into a party stage.
>>
No. 455467 ID: 04b86a

I think we have a good shot at this, so we should be able to afford to bring almost everyone. We should let the Chief know that if we die everyone still in the dream who's alive will be dumped into the Savior's sanctuary, though, so he might want to try to get his stage team ready before we leave.

And I'm reiterating that we should look into what talent boons are available for purchase, and adding on that each of our Tier 2s should get at least one weapon form related to a sport in case that's what the CAI fight has us do – baseball bats, bowling balls, things like that.
>>
No. 455470 ID: 886a4d

Leave 500 living with Chief and take the rest. That will be about 1300 tier 2s. Closer to 4000-4500 if King brings his lot as well.
>>
No. 455471 ID: 04b86a

>>455460
Oh, right, Bones has around 1000 people. I'm changing my vote to half, then.
>>
No. 455472 ID: f09b71
File 134785509646.png - (9.01KB , 700x700 , ssf7-33.png )
455472

>Make a decoy note
Healer will forge it, and Alison will carry that. As far as anyone could tell, Sevener won't know the difference.

>Ask mathematician about if the numbers advantage would be better later
There just isn't enough information, he says. 12 in a bracket with 20, or 500 was it? in a bracket of 10,000. Normally he could graph something with that, but he doesn't know if it is something linear or exponential, plus there may be other factors such as multiplying modifiers based on what stage it is. All in all, he may as well just guess a random number between 20 and 5,000.

That said, Alison's own number are sure to plummet unless there's some way to get dead people in there. An Administrator's may or may not have as hard of a hit. If she's going to wait, it better be so that she can do some other CAI fights on easier opponents to reduce the knowledge advantage.

And as for leaving some behind, Chief does plan on leaving at minimum around 200 people. King is definitely bringing his lot as well for this.
>>
No. 455473 ID: 4a328b

Ok, Chief gets his picks and everyone else is with us--ALL IN GUYS
>>
No. 455474 ID: 886a4d

Alright, then I'm gonna say leave 500 for Chief to use. I'm confident he can take on 2-1 odds. Ghost Talk is probably not widely shared and that will give him a great advantage over Bones as well.
>>
No. 455475 ID: f2c20c

>>455472
We do have data, though. Remember, two stages ago there were 12 enforcers.
>>
No. 455476 ID: 1987d1

>>455474
This sounds reasonable.

>Don't know if odds of taking sevener get better or worse in future stages.
Well... if we win this battle, and we don't take heavy losses maybe we could go for severner next. A numerical advantage and first hand knowledge or the ruleset should trump log-knowledge. Unless sevener's been at this to write the complete spoilers for the underpinning mechanics.

...should we give a speech, before we head out? People should know what we're fighting for.
>>
No. 455477 ID: 6a1ec2

You know, if literally everyone under Allison's flag goes to fight Sevener, then Bones won't have anyone left to pick on at all. He could bust up our building I suppose? It's just a safe zone, no big loss.
>>
No. 455478 ID: 1987d1

>>455477
Actually, it has occurred to me that Bones may actually pose the biggest threat to us in the safe zone, rather than the stage. If he's got one of the corrupted with him then...
>>
No. 455479 ID: 886a4d

Luckily we're all in dreamtime and all our people have to do to escape is to sleep.
>>
No. 455487 ID: 4a328b

>>455477
I am under the impression that we are NOT attacking Sevener, but some other admin bracket. I continue to vote for attacking some other admin bracket.
>>
No. 455523 ID: f09b71
File 134786837575.png - (55.00KB , 800x546 , ssf7-34.png )
455523

>If Alison wins this battle, and we don't take heavy losses, Alison could go after Sevener next
Mathematician said that he doesn't know how long a CAI fight takes, but that should work still. Alison will go to bracket 4, and later target sevener if it is reasonable.

>There is info, two stages ago there were 12
Yes, and that isn't enough to interpolate much.

>Give a speech
Chief says she can if she wants, but by this point, everyone knows what Alison is fighting for. She hasn't been flopping around on her goals.

Alison will lean on giving 500 to Chief. It would be 2 to 1 with bones and him, or 16 to 1 total contestants as a rough estimate, but Alison is sure he'd be able to get at least one person through.

There is still a bit of time before the savior comes back, though. Perhaps around 45 minutes, if she wishes to do anything in the meanwhile, considering this could be the last thing she does this stage.
>>
No. 455524 ID: 886a4d

Nothing that I can think of.
>>
No. 455526 ID: f2c20c

>>455523
>one other data point isn't enough
Dammit, that should be good enough to at least narrow things down! Fine. Ask Sixer how it works. He should be able to give us a few more data points, and that will definitely be enough to get an estimate of how many enforcers will be around next stage.

Also I'd like to point out that anyone that is alive that stays in the dream during this stage will be available for an assault next stage. Reserve troops, basically.
>>
No. 455529 ID: 04b86a

Check out what talent boons Snuggler can sell us.

The all-or-nothing nature of the CAI fight suggests that it isn't going to use straight-up combat, which means that it's going to either use a stage-style race or a competition, such as a sport. The sports boon(s), meanwhile, we only know about because some people got the musical talent boon instead of the oh-so-useful absorption skill line, which is highly suspicious if there isn't inevitably some practical use for them due to the fact that it disadvantaged them in the short term.
>>
No. 455531 ID: 886a4d

One of the things we did early on was to encourage people to get the 'useless' talents like cooking, music and sports simply because they needed more to do then prepare for battle. We continued to do so in the sanctuary and I doubt we ever stopped.
>>
No. 455533 ID: 04b86a

>>455531
Oh, I forgot about that. It'd still be nice to make sure everyone has stuff like that, especially King's people, who only just joined us.
>>
No. 455535 ID: f2c20c

>>455526
Oh, and if Sixer doesn't want to tell us, there's Radmin.
>>
No. 455537 ID: f09b71
File 134787346526.png - (14.20KB , 700x700 , ssf7-35.png )
455537

>Ask Sixer what previous stages had for enforcers
Again, sixer does not know. He generally has had no need for enforcers until the stage he had found out.

Mathematician insists he cannot find a good number based on those points alone, and he will give an explanation if Alison wants one.

>Talents
Smuggler has been selling them to anyone who was interested, and although sports aren't a popular choice, there are lots of extras people have by this point.

Radmin does come out, however. Alison doesn't know why he doesn't just come up in person, but he doesn't stop to let her ask.

>"Hey hey hey yeah I know about that. I cared about how many enforcers and hunters I had! You wanna know? I'll tell you, I just want one thing in return! It probably isn't even a big deal! It can't be done now, but I just want your promise you'll do it as soon as possible! It starts with Res, ends with rection and has ur inbetween. Catch where I'm going with this?"
>>
No. 455539 ID: f2c20c

Wait, we're in the dream and can still summon ghost-wisps? If we knew that we could've just spoken to Glitcher that way, the first time. Jeez. I guess we couldn't have given him a hug that way though.

Sure, we'll res him, if he can promise he'll continue to be on our side.
>>
No. 455541 ID: 085efe

Don't mention that he has to stay on our side, just say that of course you'd resurrect him
>>
No. 455542 ID: 04b86a

>>455537
Of course we'll resurrect him, he doesn't need to bribe us to get that if he wants it. Why the sudden interest, though? He was the one to suggest the removal of the resurrection boon, after all.

>talents
Give Snuggler and the Baron a few hundred thousand CU and send the word out that we're recommending everyone get the sports talent, we might need the edge.
>>
No. 455544 ID: 6a1ec2

Wait. Wait what? Resurrection has been deleted from the game. Glitcher never reinstated it. How the the hell are we supposed to resurrect him?
>>
No. 455545 ID: f2c20c

>>455544
Winner's Resurrection. It's a new thing the system's doing.
>>
No. 455546 ID: f09b71
File 134787947302.png - (11.24KB , 700x700 , ssf7-36.png )
455546

Alison says she will, but notices that he's the one who suggested removal of resurrection in the first place.

>How to resurrect?
Radmin means through finishing stage 7.

Meanwhile, she suggests everyone gets sports as a longshot. Radmin laughs.

>"Nonono. Okay, it won't hurt, but really, now? This is the end all method! Most likely the most complex ruleset we've seen with our fate riding on our capabilities. And you think it might games of basketball and baseball? Maybe Chief there will ski race, perhaps Duelist a game of badmitton? Perhaps it will come down to the wire and all depend on one game to settle everything! The fate of the world as we know it, with Alison in one corner, Sevener in the other, and a foosball table in between!"

Alison tells him to quit patronizing her, for all she knows it really could be like that. Then Radmin would be sorry for giving her bad advice, or at least he'd better be. Radmin argues that isn't going to happen. Alison returns that of course it's not going to happen, because she's not going to follow his advice. Everyone gets sports.

And almost 45 minutes later, nearly everyone got it for a relatively paltry cost.
>>
No. 455547 ID: f09b71
File 134787958572.png - (38.30KB , 700x464 , ssf7-37.png )
455547

Back to the safe zone side, after Chief assures her that everyone and everything is ready, Alison greets the Savior. He will show up to her house to teleport everyone directly from her place to the system bracket. He won't join immediately, but will come back to the system bracket himself after about an hour to check in to see what happened.

The Savior asks if she is ready.
>>
No. 455550 ID: f2c20c

>>455546
But... he still didn't give us the data. He didn't say he'd tell us AFTER he was resurrected!

I wanted to find out if fighting Sevener gave us a bigger numerical advantage now or later! Argh. Now I don't know whether we should fight Sevener, or go to a different bracket and use Glitcher to force the CAI fight stage.

But whatever, we've got as much shit in order that we can get in order, apparently.
>>
No. 455552 ID: 1987d1

It occurs to me the final battle could just as easily be a concert, or cook off, or whatever, as sports. Why single one out?

>>455550
It doesn't change anything. The numbers would help us decide to fight Sevener in S7 or later. Either way, we still don't fight Sevener first, since he or she has an unfair advantage with logs detailing how to win CAI fights. We're fighting someone else now- the numbers and decision aren't relevant till after this fight.

>Ready?
We are. If we don't see you again this cycle... thank you Savior.
>>
No. 455553 ID: f09b71
File 134788485708.png - (35.71KB , 700x700 , ssf7-38.png )
455553

>He didn't give the data
Alison is getting way ahead of herself. She ghost talk's Radmin, apologizing to savior for the wait.

>"You ran off before I actually-"
"I know! What are the numbers? Please get near mathematician."
>"20 in stage 3, which had 400 people. 10 in stage 4, with 40 people. It's based on the number of contestants that are supposed to enter the next stage, so this would be treated as 2500 not.. over 10,000 or whatever. Mathematician?"

The numbers are still all over the place, but it does look like the stage number is a significant modifier, greatly increasing the amount of enforcers people get. Nonetheless, with a quarter of the contestants as last stage, planned anyway, that may negate it. It's still hard to pinpoint, but he wants to say that there will be more enforcers, but not by a great deal. No more than a thousand? But more than 500. Maybe. Either way, that's still a great number advantage for Alison at the moment.
>>
No. 455556 ID: 1987d1

Hmm. Well, we still can't guess how many they'll have next stage then, since we don't know the number of contestants. :p

Regardless, it's now time to battle an administrator who isn't Sevener.
>>
No. 455558 ID: f09b71
File 134788670912.png - (184.60KB , 700x700 , ssf7-39.png )
455558

The savior comes to Alison's house, and mass teleports all the gathered individuals. Although it is less of a teleport and more of an Outsider's transit. The Savior says that he is far faster, however, and this should only take about 5 minutes. He can only teleport instantly to designated followers of his, and his own haven. After he drops off Alison, he'll be off. Bracket 4, it was decided.

Alison thanks the Savior, and wishes him goodbye, as this may be a final goodbye for the cycle. It doesn't matter, Savior says, it's closer to the end than not. Still, he wishes her luck, though he doesn't agree with her methods.

In the end, she brings, minus any margin of errors, 4,500 individuals. Which would have left Chief with a bit less than 500, but the recruitment efforts are being accounted for.
>>
No. 455559 ID: f09b71
File 134788676030.png - (825.80KB , 1254x834 , SYS7-1.png )
455559

The entry is messy. There is only one sign and one light trail. Savior bids Alison farewell.

The sign says that Alison is at the landing platform. The light trail leads to the system function area. Up to 40 people can join at once.
>>
No. 455561 ID: f09b71
File 134788679907.png - (715.10KB , 1254x834 , SYS7-2.png )
455561

System Breach! System Breach! Unauthorized entry! Snake Queen Detected! Corruptor associates detected! System-Disconnected Chomper detected! Ex-Administrator detected! Ex-Shopkeep detected! Ex-Enforcer Detected!

They are not big on silent alarms, Recluse says, amidst the chatter.
>>
No. 455566 ID: 886a4d

Scanners, Chompers, Summoners, Attackers and Defenders up first. Fill the rest with Tier 2s. 1 Summoner is to stay at the exit.

During the attack phase summoners Summon the rest of the Tier 3s, including the main group. Fill the rest of the spots with Tier 2s. Tier 2s should head on up at 30 at a time.
>>
No. 455568 ID: 886a4d

Surprised they didn't alert at our hunters, or the supervisor. I mean they are also there.
>>
No. 455569 ID: 085efe

>>455561
Nothing to do but advance. Keep in mind that Sevener might actually be ready to help other admins who ask for help fight cowardly Alison.
>>
No. 455570 ID: 1987d1

...I like the the platform looks like a galaxy of people.

>Ex-Shopkeep detected!
Hey, hey, hey!

Smuggler was supposed to stay at the house, holding on to our note, I thought! Now we could lose our merchant, Chief can't keep building up the people he has left, and our note could still be destroyed.

>Ex-Enforcer detected!
And we brought Scholar too? We get him killed and there's no ghost to go back, unlike everyone else.

>>455566
We should have everyone advance at once. Once we throw the switch, there's no going to be anywhere to retreat from. CAI fight is all or nothing.
>>
No. 455572 ID: 886a4d

Err sign says 40 at a time. Plus thats why I sent up Summoners as well.Though only half should summon that first turn. The next they should spread out a bit and summon the rest of our group, perhaps with aid of teleport \ switch from the tier 2s. They can help get the bulk of our forces up. Tier 2s can help them spread out so we can summon the rest.
>>
No. 455576 ID: 1987d1

Hmm. Maybe the ex-shopkeep detected is the baron? Bit of a stretch but...

>>455572
Oh, I missed the sign.

Summoning people up could work, but we still have to spend several turns dealing with unlimited shopkeeps or judges or whatever while we build up. And the 1 per tiles rule may make it impossible to fit our whole army up their at once.

Might we be better off just dumping the whole zone into CAI-space now?
>>
No. 455581 ID: f09b71
File 134789525260.png - (71.92KB , 1547x720 , SYS7-3.png )
455581

>Ex shopkeep, enforcer triggers
Alison wonders if their systems are buggy, or if some of her followers have been holding out on her. She is quite sure that smuggler and scholar are not with her, but that hunters and supervisor are!

Before Alison uses the CAI button, she investigates further. She brings scanners, the Chomper siblings, summoners, attackers and tanks. For purposes of being able to tell who is who, Chief has given many people similar looks, telling them that they can change back when tactics will not involve so many. He figures that while he enemy would be able to tell who is who as well, any formidable enemy would have scanners anyway.

>"... sheesh. No one was wrong to believe that at least one of you was going to go streamroller tactics on us." the administrator says from far in the back.
>>
No. 455590 ID: 1987d1

>Admin, steamroll
I'm sorry, but we need access to your administration room, and we knew what we would be facing. Unless you're willing to let us have what we want peaceably...?

Also, fyi, I think your alarms are buggy.

Can we read the signs from here? Or tell what the different colored tiles are for / mean?

The main room is 19 x 40. That's only 760 squares! (less if the red squares are no-pass or something). We can't come close to fitting our whole army of ~4000 in here, especially if they start flooding the space with enforcers, judges, etc.

If we can't dump the whole stage into the CAI-fight, and not just this room, we're in trouble.

>Chomper siblings
Oh-em-squee, I think I spy a female scruffy there (3 to the left of Alison).

>People holding out?
That's an interesting idea. Theoretically, someone in a different bracket could have made a shopkeep splinter personality the same way we made Smuggler. Theoretically, that same ex-shopkeep could have joined us in one one our later recruitment efforts. Same for an enforcer- scholar isn't necessarily the only one who bailed, and they could have slipped in.

The only flaw with this theory is it's standard practice to back up new members as they join. If the corrupted is any indication, absorbing multiple members of a collective merges them. So we'd have combined Snuggler and the other theoretical ex-shopkeep. Unless persistence stops that? Confusing. We also should have noticed when we didn't get a ghost persistence dueling the enforcer, but I suppose we could have missed it.

They might have joined through King's faction, though. He could have had his own shopkeep or enforcer deserter. And we wouldn't have had to duel them- as the head of the retroactive chain, we'd only need King's ghost to back them all up.
>>
No. 455601 ID: 04b86a

>>455546
Whether he finds it ridiculous or not, that is exactly the kind of thing that could give three contestants a fighting chance against a CAI. It's also the kind of thing a CAI would think of as a reasonable way of deciding the fates of a lot of people if they wanted something more interesting than a simple battle to the death.

>>455553
He had 12 enforcers in stage 4, though, and we'd brought a few resurrected people into the safe zone. So the actual numbers seem to scale from about 1 enforcer for every 4 contestants for low contestant counts to 1 enforcer for every 20 contestants for high contestant counts. So Sevener probably has around 605 enforcers to bring in, and this one has a minimum of 125 to summon, but probably closer to Sevener's numbers.

>>455581
I think those colored tiles might be for summoning things. Oranges are Shopkeeps, reds are Judges, blues are Enforcers, and greens are only in administration and are probably for the Summon Employees ability. So, they'll be able to bring in reinforcements very quickly.

It might be a good idea to use the button now instead of waiting for more people to come in.

"Yes, and as much as I'll benefit from fighting you I still don't enjoy killing, so if you'd toss me your keycard so that a few of us can safely get into the administration area to view some log entries that would be appreciated. Your keycard will be returned on our way out, if you don't wish to be taken to the Savior's sanctuary when he returns instead. But since you will no doubt decline the peaceful option, if anyone wants to join me for the coming fight you may be able to make a silent decision to do so. I cannot guarantee that will work, though, as I really don't know the rules governing what I'm about to do."
>>
No. 455602 ID: f2c20c

>>455581
Ask to be let into the admin room peacefully. If he refuses, use the CAI Fight thing and let the research begin.

I feel very nervous about the low number of reserve troops we have now. I guess we could try asking Glitcher to remove the kill-flags before we enter the stage proper.
>>
No. 455603 ID: f2c20c

Oh also let's scan people while the scanning's good.
>>
No. 455630 ID: 4a328b

Read those signs
>>
No. 455639 ID: 04b86a

>>/quest/455601
>He had 12 enforcers in stage 4, though, and we'd brought a few resurrected people into the safe zone
Okay, so I realized that I got confused on a few points here. Confused stage 4 with stage 5, thought that 10,000 was referring to King's stage 5 bracket for some reason...

And I also realized the only reason for us to assume the enforcer count would increase to account for overflow is if we want to assume that the upper echelons actually care about the System brackets being able to do their job without the admins banding together to demand proper resources. Which, you know, they totally don't. And if you take into account the previous brackets having multiple contest brackets per system bracket the multipliers get even lower, so I doubt they have more than 125 enforcers unless they demanded more, which Sixer would have mentioned if that was the case. They might even have less. And since the Judges and Shopkeeps can't go into the CAI fight I take back what I said earlier and think we can afford to wait a few turns to gather people, regardless of what color summons which employee type.
>>
No. 455647 ID: 886a4d

Diplomacy first, as if you can use the administrator room. You promise to not do anything but use your keycard and then leave.

Summon as many as you can this turn THEN start the CAI fight. It might not include the previous room but you should have doubled your numbers at the very least. Depending on how far summon ally allows you to spread in tile space.

We should be on attack phase right now since we just moved. That means half our summoners should do so immediately. Bring the rest of our tier 3s up and fill any other spots with tier 2s.

The fully unlocked Tier 2s will be vital for this battle. They can move 4 squares instantly, switch with the summoners the next turn as well as one shotting one judge or multiple shopkeeps. If we weren't going to do a CAI fight I'd actually think we can win this normally.
>>
No. 455653 ID: 1987d1

When you enter a new room, doesn't it always start on the move phase?

>one shotting multiple shopkeeps
Huh. This raises an interesting side point. If we absorb new shopkeep ghosts, the imprint merges with Smuggler, doesn't it? (Just like the corrupteds) He'll get all the Shopkeep-Alison interaction memories he's missed since he diverged from the collective. Potentially, that means we learn new things Shopkeep has been unable to tell us.
>>
No. 455655 ID: 42c1c6

I wonder if we can physically bar the enforcer entrance by occupying all the spaces there.
>>
No. 455660 ID: 886a4d

It might be possible if Double Move allows you to move at the attack phase instead of simply cancelling your attack to move twice during the move phase. Summon Ally might be another way to do it since it also occurs during the attack phase, of course it depends on timing. Does Summon Ally happen before the attack, after the attack or simultaneously.


However a better idea would be to assign a platformer to disable those tiles. If they don't have float they drop down.
>>
No. 455682 ID: 085efe

>Huh. This raises an interesting side point. If we absorb new shopkeep ghosts, the imprint merges with Smuggler, doesn't it? (Just like the corrupteds) He'll get all the Shopkeep-Alison interaction memories he's missed since he diverged from the collective. Potentially, that means we learn new things Shopkeep has been unable to tell us.

I'd bet that once we resurrected Snuggler, he became a seperate entity from the Shopkeep collective, so further absorbed Shopkeeps would be distinct entities from him.
>>
No. 455690 ID: f09b71
File 134792483311.png - (72.38KB , 1547x720 , SYS7-4.png )
455690

>Does it start on the move phase?
The move phase was spent moving to this area. It is the attack phase. Recluse thinks about it. That means that this area might not actually be seperated from the landing platform. The tier 2's use their attacks to teleport forward.

Alison asks the administrator if he is willing to simply let her use her keycard, and she'll be along her way.

The administrator says that her impulse would be to tell her no, but like this, it does look like he doesn't have much of a chance. He'll be nervous about letting such a massive number come forward, but he doesn't have many bargaining chips right now. He does tell all of her system bracket members to stay where they are.
>>
No. 455693 ID: f2c20c

>>455690
Hmm. Well, this should be easy then. Everyone advance with Alison, to the teleport line. Alison should get in the middle of a sizable clump with numerous tanks so she's nice and protected. This clump will teleport line by line into the admin's room, and once she arrives we will use the card. Then we back out in a clump again, and ask for a teleport out. Or just get Savior on the phone again for that.

It's a pity we can't just use the CAI fight item for experimentation without actually fighting anyone for real. The stakes are set so that the winner takes all...
>>
No. 455696 ID: 085efe

>>455690
Be ready for a fight, but bring Arbiter to check his logs. The majority of the group should stay behind, with only a small group actually coming along for security sake. Do this as a sign of being willing to work with people who work with you.

Assuming no fight comes up, don't start one, but be ready to fall back if needed.
>>
No. 455697 ID: 085efe

>>455696
to be specific, about 5-8 members of Alison's core group should advance, and have summoners ready to pull them back to the group at any time.
>>
No. 455699 ID: 1987d1

>Willing to negotiate
Really? How unexpected. That regrettably means we won't get CAI practice, but it does mean we avoid a massacre.

We should summon and advance more troops, just in case this is a trap. A trick to get our leaders to advance towards the Admin room, then dump a bunch of Enforcers, Hunters, and Judges on them.

However, that trap shouldn't work. We send Arbiter and Alison forward with an escort. If we get jumped, the escort just has to screen us long enough for Alison to push the button, and then it's CAI fight for everyone (including the rest of our army, since the rooms aren't separate). The escort should be large enough to completely surround Alison and Arbiter, and block ranged attacks to them. (So they're in the center of a square or rectangular formation 2 or 3 deep).

Ask that the admin please place her card on the ground and exit her chamber. We'll advance, check the logs we're interested in, and then go. Then we'll leave, she can reclaim her card, and they can go about their buisness. Or come with us, if they're afraid of being killed as punishment for backing down. Can we cross the colored tiles without tripping enforcer and etc summoning?

Scanners, get scanning. We'd like to ID the kinds of system members we're facing , even if this doesn't turn violent. Also, we need to read those signs.
>>
No. 455701 ID: 886a4d

I say we fill the first four rows with troops and stop there while Alison, the Scruffs, Mako, Recluse, Arbiter and Bandit advance to the Administrator room. Should they start summoning judges \ enforcers Alison should hit the CAI button immediately.
>>
No. 455702 ID: 4a328b

>>455696
Seconded

Also I think it's worth scoping him out as a potential friendly in terms of planning to try and take out UNfriendly administrators now while we still can out number them--so we have people in power who are willing to work with us instead of actively working against our investigative efforts
>>
No. 455704 ID: 04b86a

That's... disappointing. Good, but disappointing. I guess giving us the keycard might be against the rules, so I guess he/she (the update said "he" for the personal pronouns, but used "her" for the possessive pronouns) could always toss the keycard several tiles away from themself?

Thinking about the colored tiles a bit more and looking back at thread 4, I think each of the reds might be an enforcer summoner. Which means there are 213 enforcers. Back in stage five the enforcers were summoned by stepping on light blue platforms, so maybe the purples summon them?

Tell him if he has any doubts about our trustworthiness he's free to call the Shopkeep and ask him for his opinion before separating himself from his keycard.
>>
No. 455712 ID: 735f4f

Unless thats a minefield we are being lured into. They do know our methods and how we like to avoid fights. This might be a trick.
>>
No. 455713 ID: 04b86a

Hey, wait a second! We were told we could bring 40 at a time! This place is only 38 tiles wide, though! Shopkeep!
>>
No. 455716 ID: f09b71
File 134792840886.png - (78.95KB , 1547x720 , SYS7-5.png )
455716

The Scanners start scanning.

>It's 38 tiles, not 40!
Shopkeep says he'll have to fix the sign!

They aren't using bad builds. They have devoted focuses as with most of Alison's bunch, and appropriate boons. It would be a formidable fight if Alison didn't outnumber them so much.

It's kind of a shame, The Admin says. They also are trying to break a way out, but it is difficult to work at all with contestants without dying. And most admins feel that they must be admins to do much past stage 11, hence they are not so willing to demote themselves to a contestant. All moot, what with the current situation. Alison says if he has any doubts about her trustworthiness, the shopkeep can vouch for her, and he can toss his keycard from a distance. Admin says he trusts her.

A couple turns pass as Alison's group starts filling out the rows while Alison, Arbiter and a few others start moving forward. The attack phase finishes on a turn, but before the next turn comes, the system announcer flares on.

SYSTEM NOTICE! REINFORCEMENTS HAVE ARRIVED! Brackets 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 10, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 answers!

Administrator yells to supervisor to flip the switch. He then yells to Alison saying sorry, he knows he could trust her, but it's her who shouldn't have trusted him.
>>
No. 455718 ID: 886a4d

Flip our switch first.
>>
No. 455720 ID: 085efe

>Administrator yells to supervisor to flip the switch. He then yells to Alison saying sorry, he knows he could trust her, but it's her who shouldn't have trusted him.

Let him know that's fine. That you were kind of expecting this, then activate the CAI stage conversion button.
>>
No. 455721 ID: f2c20c

>>455716
OH GOD ENABLE THE CAI FIGHT ITEM DO IT NOW NOW NOW
>>
No. 455723 ID: 04b86a

>Bracket... 7
Hit the button, now!
>>
No. 455724 ID: 886a4d

I'm more interested in the brackets that didn't show. They might be willing to talk.
>>
No. 455726 ID: 4a328b

Activate CAI fight, assuming that's not what he's already doing.
>>
No. 455727 ID: 6a1ec2

We have a switch? I hope we have a switch.
>>
No. 455728 ID: 04b86a

>>455724
The problem with bracket 7 is that's our bracket. You know, the one whose administrator knows the CAI fighting rules.
>>
No. 455729 ID: b6edd6

Push the button before talking, in case we can beat them to their switch-pressing.
>>
No. 455731 ID: f2c20c

Oh, right, and I have an easy counter-argument.

Unlike contestants, there are very few Admins left right now. If ALL of them cooperate with you to find a way out, then NONE of them risk falling behind in the ranking just due to that reason. They will all be docked 'points'. It's not like it matters anyway, as there will always be only one admin left during stage 10 and 11, no matter if they cooperate with contestants or not.
>>
No. 455735 ID: 1987d1

So that's why there was a staff next to his supervisor. I was thinking it was an odd shape for a person.

Brackets 3, 6, 9, 11, 12, 13, 19, 20 didn't come. That means Corruptor's, the Council's, Obliterators, Swordane's and Alison / Bone's admin zones are empty!

We need to use ghost talk to get in contact with Corruptor. All his factions are now in position to seize their admin zones while they're out, and block the admins from getting back to their rooms! Even if we die, we can lock them out!
>>
No. 455740 ID: 4a328b

>>455735
Beautiful plan!
>>
No. 455741 ID: f2c20c

>>455735
I... don't think we should do this. The admins are not really our enemies- we don't need them dead. If the Corruptor gains admin access, who knows what will happen? If anything, we should try to prevent it.
>>
No. 455744 ID: 085efe

>>455735

I also disagree with doing this
>>
No. 455745 ID: 4a328b

>>455741
As glitcher said earlier, looking to prevent a massacre here is futile. We need to take advantage of the administrators who are hostile to us leaving their areas to keep them from getting BACK to their areas.
>>
No. 455747 ID: 1987d1

All we can do is use ghost talk to alert Chief and co, though. It's up to one of them to request Corruptor summon them (Radmin was able to do so with Alison, why can't we do it to others?) so they can talk. Or failing that, they'll have to go through Bones.

>>455741
He won't get admin access, since he doesn't have any keycards anymore. But it will block all the admins who attacked us from getting back to their control functions, or leaving new logs. Most importantly? It fucks Sevener over if he or she survives.

And I think we can treat people who deceived us and are trying to kill us as enemies.

Also? This contingency plan doesn't kill all the admins. Just 5 of them, if they succeed in killing us. If we win this battle, we kill 12.
>>
No. 455753 ID: 886a4d

>>455747
I agree, Make it so they don't benefit from this at all.
>>
No. 455770 ID: f2c20c

>>455747
Well, this plan depends on if the admin actually enters the battle here, and doesn't just, like, send Judges/Enforcers/Shopkeeps in. If I were them, I would NEVER leave the base myself, and just teleport out troops for reinforcements.
>>
No. 455773 ID: 1987d1

>>455770
Well, if the admins stay behind and sent their armies on ahead, it still works. They're either outnumbered and killed by the various houses of corruption, or they're forced to recall their troops, making our lives that much easier.

I more than suspect Sevener came him or herself, though.
>>
No. 455787 ID: f2c20c

>>455773
Except, you know, they can just... summon in armies at home too? They can bring in an infinite amount of Judges and Shopkeeps!
>>
No. 455788 ID: 886a4d

administrators need to be in their room to use their card.
>>
No. 455796 ID: f2c20c

>>455788
You know they have teleporters, right?
>>
No. 455798 ID: 886a4d

They will be in a CAI fight. No teleporting out.
>>
No. 455801 ID: f2c20c

>>455798
Okay, what do you think is going to happen when we push the button? That it'll turn ALL system bases into a CAI fight? It won't!

Other brackets, if the admins stay there (and there's no reason for them NOT to stay, as they can just teleport troops out rather than personally being there), will still have defenses. They will be able to swarm attackers with infinite judges+shopkeeps. Anyone we sent there would die. If the admins get to this base before we lock it down via the CAI fight conversion, then we'll have a VERY large number of Enforcers to deal with.

Waiting is a bad move no matter which way we look at it.
>>
No. 455806 ID: 886a4d

>>455801
I'm not arguing to wait, I'm talking about using ghost-talk during battle to send word to Corrupter that System Brackets are empty.
>>
No. 455809 ID: f2c20c

>>455806
Oh. Well, if we activate the CAI fight conversion before the judge's switch is thrown, the other admins won't be able to get to us, so they will still be at home.
>>
No. 455813 ID: 1987d1

>>455809
Eh, it's too late. Reinforcements are here. It'll be the same if we or they change the rules. Unless whoever initiates the change gets an edge? Ie, there are black and white or "attacker" and "defender" sides. In which case, we should probably try to quick draw- it makes sense the CAI would weight it's ruleset to give itself an edge when it turns on.

What happens if both switches are thrown though? Will it toggle on and off?
>>
No. 455814 ID: f2c20c

>>455813
Reinforcements are quite obviously NOT here, though. They "arrived", but they aren't on the battlefield. The supervisor needs to flip the switch. If we activate the CAI fight item before the supervisor flips the switch, then the switch won't be flipped and we'll have to only fight those forces actively participating.
>>
No. 455820 ID: 04b86a

>>455813
I think the switch just lets the reinforcements into the area. Glitcher did say that if we tried to do this normally we'd be swarmed by thousands of Judges, although judging by what Savior said there will be other administrators here, too. I think the blues might be for them.

So if we push the button now, everyone in the zone, which seems to include the lobby we appeared in but probably not wherever the reinforcements are, will be teleported into the void space for the CAI fight. Of course since Judges can't come with us we'll probably have the numerical advantage even if we wait, but what I'm worried about is Sevener showing up. We are not ready to fight her, especially not if she has backup.
>>
No. 455823 ID: 1987d1

They're as much here as the rest of our army is. We confirmed it all counts as one area- we used the move phase in one screen, and the attack phase in another. We expected our off screen forces to be available in the CAI fight, we can expect theirs to be as well. Clicking first won't give us a numerical advantage- but it may give us a tactical one if the sides are different (black v white, defender v challenger, etc).

Besides, it would be just stupid of them to throw the switch now if it cuts them off from their reinforcements. Therefore it's safe to assume it brings everyone. It's going to be 4500 vs 12*500 = 6000, approximately.

Let's at least go down with some cool.

"No need, Supervisor. I brought my own." *Button-ed*
>>
No. 455833 ID: f2c20c

>>455823
They can't get here by move phase, though. There are no light trails leading here from where the reinforcements are. Thus, it's not the same area.
>>
No. 455846 ID: b6edd6

The reinforcements might or might not yet be 'here' enough to actually get into a CAI fight if it is triggered immediately.
If they have physically spawned already, they would have to have spawned on some tiles, and the only tiles we cannot see are the ones at the entrance, meaning we would be cut off from retreat in a non CAI fight.
>>
No. 458149 ID: 886a4d

I was just thinking about our chances here... and its not going to be as horrible as I feared.

Each bracket will be bringing the 7-9 permanents administrator, judge lord, watcher, supervisor, baron, and 2-4 hunters. They will also be bringing about 3-4 turns of enforcers IF they start summoning immediately upon alert. Which ends up being around 2000 enforcers. Our tier 2s can actually deal with them simply by rushing each enforcer with 3-4 tier 2s. It'll be a slaughter but I think we have a chance.

I do wish we had waited to get more tier 3s up to 20 million though.
>>
No. 463516 ID: f09b71
File 135040777664.png - (108.63KB , 700x700 , CAI7-1.png )
463516

Alison can't be confident that any other Admin's even came, or sent all their reinforcements. Either way, she hits the button as soon as possible. She'll get arbiter to try and get in communication with the corruptor, if possible.

Either way, she doesn't wait before hitting the button, and the teleportation is instant.

Alison appears alone. She does not seem to have access to her ghosts after all.

CAI Lobby Entered (Emulation) Contestant V. Administration
Please vote for a ruleset:
Basic
Advanced
Sudden Death

>>
No. 463518 ID: 4a328b

Might as well go ADVANCED
>>
No. 463520 ID: 6a1ec2

>>463516

Don't vote at all. Chill for 10min just hangin there, bein chill.
>>
No. 463521 ID: c6ec33

ADVANCED sounds good enough. Hopefully Sevener didn't make it into this round...

Odds are that Sevener has had practice with every single type of ruleset. Alison has to have tried every single CAI fight by now, even if she can't remember it.
>>
No. 463528 ID: 44f93b

>Choose.
Uh, shopkeep, you there? I don't suppose we get an explanation? ...no? Didn't think so.

Let's assume Sevener is in the enemy forces, or at least, that they have access to Sevener's logs.

Let's also assume Sevener's knowledge of the CAI-ruleset, while better than ours (nothing) is incomplete. (Beacuse if Sevener knows the complete ruleset, we're kind of fucked).

Basic will presumably be the least complicated, with the fewest hidden rules. So our being behind doesn't hurt as bad. However, if there's less to learn, that makes it much more likely the enemy knows all that they need to know to control the field and shut us down.

Sudden death is a gamble. We could get lucky and kill them despite any advantage. However, we'll likely have little to no room for experimentation, or to recover from mistakes. Seems suicidally risky.

Advanced will have the most complex rules. While on the one hand, this may mean the side that knows more rules has an advantage, we are very good at learning new rules and exploits, and are more likely to find something that supersedes or interferes with the enemy strategy. Also, any rules the enemy is ignorant of may trip them up.

On balance... I vote advanced.
>>
No. 463537 ID: 886a4d

I'm going to say advanced as well. When its all said and down Contestents have been working through unknown suspect rulesets all along. They are simply plain better at adapting.
>>
No. 463552 ID: 04b86a

I bet each of the rulesets builds off of the earlier ones. Advanced has all of Basic's rules plus a lot of extras, and Sudden Death is probably like Advanced but with whoever's the first to "score" winning.

So Advanced will give us an idea of Basic's rules, and Sudden Death would just be a scrabble to figure out the rules fast enough to get the first and only point, which while we may have an advantage at by virtue of being highly adaptable contestants isn't conductive to learning as many rules as we need. I think Sevener might challenge us to Sudden Death if she thinks she knows the rules well enough or is afraid that Alison knows the rules well enough that a drawn out fight will give Alison the edge.

I say that Advanced is best.
>>
No. 463563 ID: 04b86a

Wait a second: we're voting for the ruleset. That means it's not the challenger who gets to choose the ruleset, so if we plan our choice ahead of time it becomes a matter of who has more members. That makes me wonder if the CAI counts as a single entity or multiple entities for the purpose of voting; more than three will probably mean they get to choose.
>>
No. 463564 ID: 886a4d

>>463563
Yup, so if this is the only practice battle we get it makes sense to use the advanced ruleset. You can bet sudden death will involve rules from basic or advanced.
>>
No. 463671 ID: bdb3f8

(I vote for basic so Lagotrope only has to firmly decide on like half the rules right now)
>>
No. 463673 ID: 886a4d

Wasn't that what he was doing this last week
>>
No. 464593 ID: c4e5c2
File 135070134180.png - (69.48KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-2.png )
464593

Advanced vote received.

Upon voting, Alison can sense that all of her followers begin voting for the same. So far, that is all the communication with them that she's able to detect. Alison doesn't know how many people there are total, but in the end, the Advanced ruleset is won.

Platforms pop up around her, as does someone who is allied to the system. Presumably, she is supposed to defeat him or her, somehow.

Attacks: 2
Defenses: 1


No other knowledge is given to her, and she can't see any rule boards.
>>
No. 464594 ID: f2c20c

>>464593
Okay, I theorize that the red and blue buttons are for attacks and defenses respectively, and the grey button is for movement. So, this looks like turn-based combat where we move, attack, and defend all at once. Alison has Double Attack so we can attack twice.

Blue up, red up and red up-left. Grey down-right.
>>
No. 464595 ID: 44f93b

So our team voted as a block? Good to know. If we won, that means either (a) we outnumber the system forces, or (b) the system forces also voted for advanced. Or both, I suppose. No way to know if this is a good or bad sign, yet.

>Attacks: 2
>Defenses: 1

Since these are plural, I take that to mean these are reserves available, not stats. As in, we can attack twice, and defend once. Meaning, presumably, the first to attack twice will kill the other.

We have no light trails, and the platforms are not contiguous. I think this means we can't move between them (at least the normal way).

>chose
>3 buttons
Presumably, these control movement, attack, and defense. If I had to guess from the color coding grey is for movement (colored the same as the platforms) red is for attack (blood/violence/anger) and blue is defense.

Grey button?
>>
No. 464596 ID: c4e5c2
File 135070279806.png - (71.14KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-3.png )
464596

While Alison thinks on what to do the light trails appear.

Even so, she isn't able to move yet. It is a different phase.

>Blue, up
No location designated.

>Red, up left
Illegal direction.

>Grey, down right
No location designated.

Alison may now move, if she wishes. It doesn't appear that her enemy is having any more luck.
>>
No. 464598 ID: 04b86a

>No location designated.
That means we need to specify coordinates when using the buttons. Both Alison and her opponent are at D4 right now.

It seems button phases and move phases are different, so move left.
>>
No. 464599 ID: f2c20c

>>464596
Oh, these are tokens. We place them on a location and set a direction for them to attack or defend. Orthogonal directions only. I'm not sure what the grey thing is for now. Maybe a wall?

Place blue on C4 pointing right. Red on E5 pointing up. Move down.
>>
No. 464602 ID: 44f93b

>>464598
This sounds right. We should move away this turn, and then next turn, try imputing coordinates into the buttons.
>>
No. 464606 ID: c4e5c2
File 135070425068.png - (71.49KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-4.png )
464606

Alison moves left, the system member moves right.
Movement over.
Turn 2 begins.


>Blue on C4 pointing right
Illegal location

>Red on E5 pointing up
Illegal location

Alison doesn't choose a grey button, but one appears on her board anyway. Although she can't tell directly, she can assume that the member put a grey piece on Alison's board.
>>
No. 464608 ID: 44f93b

Perhaps you can only place red and blues on tiles with a player on them? Assuming they're attacks and defenses, that sort of makes sense. Try putting a red on your opponent's platform.

Or maybe you use the grey tiles to 'prime' the board- and the effect will change platform colors, opening spots you can place the other buttons?

We should probably try putting a grey on his side.
>>
No. 464614 ID: f2c20c

>>464606
Perhaps it's number-letter rather than letter-number? Or we have to specify which board to put it on.

Um. Move down.

Grey on Opponent's 4F pointing left.
Red on Opponent's E3 pointing down.
Blue on 4D pointing right.

That should cover all our syntax bases without risking putting blue on the wrong board.
>>
No. 464615 ID: 04b86a

Maybe they simply can't be pointing at our opponent when placed?
>>
No. 464617 ID: f2c20c

>>464615
Oh, that's quite possible.

Try red on Opponent's F5 pointing left, then.
>>
No. 464622 ID: c4e5c2
File 135070664933.png - (72.51KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-5.png )
464622

Movement Phase
Alison moves down.

Tile Movements:
The first grey one moves up.

Turn 3 Placement Phase
Since he has moved, Alison will adjust accordingly, to attempt to place Blue directly on the system member, and red somewhere else and not pointed at him.

>Grey to opponent F3, Left
This appears to work.

>Red on Opponents F5, pointed Left
Illegal Location

>Blue on Opponents F4, pointed down
Illegal Location
>>
No. 464625 ID: f2c20c

Oh! The grey tile moved. I wonder what happens if they hit someone. Maybe... red and blue are column/row-based? Or maybe Blue can only be placed on our board, and there's some different restriction for red.

Move right.

Red: Opponent's column G pointing down.
Blue: Our B3 pointed right.
>>
No. 464626 ID: 04b86a

Maybe red and blue work differently than grey, then? I noticed that we can also apparently place greys on our own side if we with.

Move right, to see if the entire column is being shifted.

Blue on Alison's C1 pointing down.

And does anyone think we can use items on platforms for tests? Like, tossing 1 CU onto the platform with the up arrow and another CU onto the platform above it to see if they get moved around. I'm not sure if that would be of any use for testing is something is dangerous for a person, though.
>>
No. 464630 ID: 04b86a

>>464625
I think you might be onto something. Maybe we can use a blue to neutralize a red, then? And then use the greys to try to maneuver them into the row or column that a red's been used on.
>>
No. 464634 ID: c4e5c2
File 135070830762.png - (72.20KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-6.png )
464634

Alison moves right, and the member moves down. She notes that she does not appear to have access to normal CU or inventory as normal.

Turn 4: Placement Phase

>Red on Opponent G1, pointed down.
Illegal Location

>Blue on Alison's C1 pointing down
Illegal Location

The system member did place another grey one at the far left of his own board.

Movement begin
>>
No. 464635 ID: c4e5c2
File 135070833147.png - (33.59KB , 700x700 , CAI7-7.png )
464635

Alison does wish there was a tutorial. Every single tile on the map appears invalid for any reds and blues.
>>
No. 464639 ID: 44f93b

...maybe red and blues aren't for platforms. Maybe you assign them to entire columns / rows?

I'd like to point out that either Sevener's logs are rather incomplete or he or she has not apparently shared information with the system player(s?) you're currently facing.

Although the system member is being clever there- he wants to see what happens when an arrow reaches the edge of the board.
>>
No. 464640 ID: 04b86a

>>464635
Rows and Columns it is, then!

Just stay where you are now.
Grey on opponent's G4 pointing left.
Red on opponent's column E.
>>
No. 464642 ID: f2c20c

Alright, let's try something different. Maybe red and blue are placed on light trails, or just generally between tiles. Or maybe they're placed on top of grey tiles. Let's test both.

First, move down. Then try putting blue on our board between F3 and G3 pointing right.
Grey on opponent's F2 pointing down.
Red on that moving tile on the opponent's 3 row pointing down.
>>
No. 464643 ID: 34cbef

maybe they stack, like gray needs to be placed first, then on top a red or a blue
>>
No. 464647 ID: 04b86a

>>464643
Changing my vote to stack testing.

Red on opponent's G5.
Grey on opponent's D3, pointing up.

I rather doubt reds and blues go on tiles, though. If they did there's no reason the greys couldn't go on second.
>>
No. 464650 ID: e3f578

>>464643
This is what I think.
It's more probably than columns or rows in my opinion.
>>
No. 464658 ID: c4e5c2
File 135070999246.png - (72.34KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-8.png )
464658

Alison spends a couple more turns testing, along with the system member presumably trying similar things.

Alison moves down, what Alison will call Tinyfeet goes left.

Movement over

Grey arrows move
The one on the far left of Tinyfeet's simply goes away.

Turn 5: Placement

Member places one grey on B3 pointed to the right, Alison places on on Tinyfeet's D3 pointed up.
Alison's arrow appears to have stacked with a pre-existing arrow.
>>
No. 464659 ID: c4e5c2
File 135071000554.png - (72.41KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-9.png )
464659

Alison and Tinyfeet stay still, and let the arrows move again. The combined arrows split, while two collide and stack again.

Turn 6: Placement

As for what Alison has learned thus far attempting to place reds and blues...

>Assign a blue/red to an entire row/column
Invalid Location

>Assign a blue/red on top of a grey
Invalid Location

>Assign a blue/red on a light trail between platforms
Invalid Location

She may still attempt to lay down a grey arrow this turn. Alison can see that Tinyfeet is no less annoyed than she is.
>>
No. 464660 ID: 44f93b

...let's work with what we have. Let's try and fire off grays such that we corral tinyfeet, and see what happens when an arrow hits a player.
>>
No. 464661 ID: f2c20c

Alright, let's think out of the box. Try putting one NEXT TO the edge of the board.

Have it pointing towards the opponent.
>>
No. 464663 ID: 04b86a

>>464661
This. Red to Tinyfeet's E8, pointing up.
Grey to Tinyfeet's E5, pointing down.
>>
No. 464666 ID: d4ad1a

Try putting a red on your opponent, not on his tile.
>>
No. 464669 ID: 04b86a

Can we tear off part of our armor and throw it onto our D1?
>>
No. 464671 ID: c4e5c2
File 135071115399.png - (72.89KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-10.png )
464671

The red/blue placement was already done this round, so Alison fires off another grey because of why not, as does Tinyfeet.

>Is it possible to throw off armor onto a Tile?
Alison believes that this is possible, but already can tell that that will just make her more naked.
>>
No. 464672 ID: c4e5c2
File 135071116292.png - (72.35KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-11.png )
464672

Alison and Tinyfeet move, and the arrows move.
>>
No. 464673 ID: c4e5c2
File 135071118003.png - (72.63KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-12.png )
464673

Turn 7: Placement Phase

>Place a red/blue next to the edge of the board.
Success! A red one shows up.

Alison can still place a blue and grey.
>>
No. 464675 ID: f2c20c

Ha! Let the bombardment commence!

...thinking about it, maybe red and blue are our two attacks, and grey is a 'defense'. That means Tinyfeet has been stacking defenses a lot but we're rather exposed. Let's put a grey on our side of the board this round.

Grey B3 right, our board.
Blue right, just below the red attack on the opponent's board.
Attempt to put a second red where our first one was placed, going the same direction. Try to stack it, that is, since there's a "1".
>>
No. 464676 ID: 44f93b

Pen him in!

Put the grey on E7, up, and the blue on row 6.
>>
No. 464681 ID: 04b86a

>>464671
>that will just make Alison more naked
You don't even have anything to cover up! And the purpose of that was to see what, if anything, would happen to it when when the tile moved, although I'm now suspecting they don't affect anything other than what the reds and blues do.

>>464675
>greys are defenses
Probably. But Tinyfeet might not have realized that just yet, so...

>>464676
Supporting this.
>>
No. 464704 ID: d4ad1a

Place a second red.
>>
No. 464710 ID: 886a4d

If red goes on the opponants board I bet blue goes on your side of the board. Also with the way the arrows are I bet we'll see an attack phase after movement now.

Here's some theories:

Red: Attack. Place on columns or rows outside the board.

Blue: Defense. Cancels out an attack

Grey: Redirection. Moves an attack OR defence wave around the board.

So we've place 1 of our attacks. We have 1 more and 1 defense.

As far as placement I say we don't place blue yet and place a grey right at our opponants feet. Heading down.
>>
No. 464742 ID: 4a328b

Put a blue under the E column pointing up
>>
No. 464789 ID: c4e5c2
File 135077568213.png - (74.50KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-14.png )
464789

>Put blue on Column E

>Put another Red down
Maximum attacks reached Alison's double attack, in fact, all of her regular stats and boons, do not appear to apply here. She can only place 2, apparently.

>Put a grey piece on Alison's B3, to the right

Alison will differentiate the grid labels, so as to not confuse herself as to placing a coin on her grid or Tinyfeet's grid.

>"What?!" the system member breaks the silence.

Movement phase

Now that the rules have become apparent, moves and placements will be done separately. As such, please suggest movement first, and wait to the placement phase to suggest placements.
>>
No. 464790 ID: 44f93b

Let's move Alison to X13, so we can hide behind 2 sets of arrows.

>"What?!"
Oh, we communication works here? I assumed it didn't, along with our other skills. Normally I would have tried to talk things out, but I don't think that's an option here.

I'm sorry.
>>
No. 464791 ID: 886a4d

Move right.

Ask the system user if he is an administrator. Also ask what he is confused about.
>>
No. 464797 ID: c4e5c2
File 135077626762.png - (74.38KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-T-7-Move.png )
464797

Movement Phase Completed
>>
No. 464799 ID: c4e5c2
File 135077632601.png - (74.44KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-T-8-placement.png )
464799

Action Phase Completed

Turn 8 Placement begins

"What are you confused about? Are you an administrator, by the way?"
>"There are supposed to be some hints about what to do! No, I'm a hunter."
>>
No. 464803 ID: 886a4d

Answer its probably because we picked advanced mode.

Place a grey arrow at the same position as the blue attack pointing up. I want to see if we can't double the speed they move.
>>
No. 464805 ID: f2c20c

Red on row 2, left. If he keeps going up it'll hit him.
Blue on Column E, down. I want to see what happens if two collide, and that will pass through our previously placed blue first, then overlap with the red.

Grey on W15, left.
>>
No. 464807 ID: 886a4d

Actually its probably because we pushed the button first. Their system has been revised after countless interations. Glitcher however is completely new at it.

But we won't tell him that since Glitcher is a secret.
>>
No. 464810 ID: 04b86a

>>464805
This, except I want to do grey on D5, up.


Tell him that we weren't really expecting the rules to be handed to us, but it's still very annoying. It's no wonder the CAI always wins this if they know what to do but the contestants don't.
>>
No. 464815 ID: 44f93b

Well, now it's just a game of boxing him in with rays until one kills him. Too bad we probably won't get to save him with absorb- although if we're ultimately successful, beat everything and get access to the system backups, everyone will be safe.

>There are supposed to be some hints about what to do!
It's probably because I picked advanced. I assume your information is for basic. If you had expectations on how this should work, can I assume that means you work for Sevener?

I'm sorry about this, hunter. Normally I would attempt to end this kind of thing peaceably... but I don't think we have a choice. I'm not even sure if absorb works here.
>>
No. 464820 ID: f2c20c

>>464810
Why are we putting defenses on the enemy's tiles, exactly?

They are obviously supposed to be used to block attack rays. I suppose if they block movement we could try something clever with them, but we can't really plan far in advance for that because they can freely place defenses to block incoming rays as well.
>>
No. 464822 ID: c4e5c2
File 135077814014.png - (75.82KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-T-8-placementEnd.png )
464822

"Maybe because it's advanced? I don't know, to be honest! I'll absorb if it's possible!"

>Red on Row 2, to the left
>Blue on Column E, down
>Grey on E7, Up
Although placing grey's on the enemies board might not be the best thing, Alison does want to know what happens when it is placed on top of a colored piece. So far, nothing happens.
>>
No. 464823 ID: 886a4d

I expect they also can be used to redirect attacks since two attacks at a time are fairly easy to avoid. What I want to know if they move the person as well.
>>
No. 464824 ID: c4e5c2
File 135077816587.png - (52.86KB , 700x700 , CAI7-T-8-moveBeg.png )
464824

One of Alison's members show up, similar to a ghost. He informs Alison that he tried to fight Sevener, and that she knew the rules. He didn't last too long, obviously, not knowing the rules himself. Apparently when he died, he can advise one other person who is still alive, so he figured he'd go straight to Alison.

It turns out that when a non-grey piece ends up on the same tile, they explode,, taking out entire platforms underneath. And as far as he can tell, there's no way to restore platforms. So it's just a matter of trying to drop the other player.

Movement Phase Begin
>>
No. 464826 ID: 886a4d

Thank him, ask him if he can change who he advises? Since this is kind of needed information that everyoen should have.

Also stay still.
>>
No. 464827 ID: 04b86a

Ask him if the grey pieces affect the players in any way. And non-grey pieces explode when they end up on the same tile as what? Players? Other non-grey pieces? Opposing colored pieces? Anything, but the explosion can only happen if they're both there after tile movements?
>>
No. 464829 ID: 44f93b

Thank your member for advising you.

It looks like he got to drop his attacker/defender/summoner/healer/scanner temporary skin when died.

>It turns out that when a non-grey piece ends up on the same tile, they explode
Calrify: when two pieces end up on the same tile, or when a piece ends up on the same tile as a player?

Was Sevener able to absorb him?

CAI battles have been described as all or nothing- it's possible our fallen people will be revived if we prevail.

>she
Confirmed gender for Sevener! What did she look like, anyways? So we'll know her if we see her.

...the hunter over their can't hear this discussion, can he? Switch to battle language, if necessary.
>>
No. 464830 ID: 04b86a

I notice that the first red and blue pieces we put down have lost their numbers. I wonder if that's significant.

Speculation: once a tile is destroyed we'll be able to put red and blue pieces in the hole created. Of course, our advisor may be able to confirm this now.
>>
No. 464832 ID: f2c20c

Hmm. If the point is to drop the other player, then we don't want them to find out whether or not grey pieces can move you or pose as obstacles. If that's true then we'd like to keep our enemy placing greys on his own board.

Move left.
>>
No. 464833 ID: f2c20c

>>464824
Oh, and, uh... ask him if greys were obstacles and could push players.
>>
No. 464835 ID: 04b86a

Oh, and I doubt this will work but whatever.

Alison, do you remember how, back in the checkpoint in the preliminary stages, Iso commented that "some people get skills out of nowhere that probably won't help much in the stages" despite only having just obtained understanding? He knew that because the memory wipe from the reboot isn't total, because some knowledge seeps through into future cycles.

And while Sevener may have messed things up for you, you used to fight the CAI every dozen cycles or so, and more recently have been challenged by Sevener and her subordinates very frequently. So I want you to stop and look at Tinyfeet's board for a moment and ask yourself if you know of anything that can be done that you shouldn't know yet. Tile interactions, herding strategies, anything.
>>
No. 464937 ID: c4e5c2
File 135081459069.png - (77.60KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-T-8-moveEnd.png )
464937

>Thank him, ask him if he can change who he advises? Since this is kind of needed information that everyone should have.
Alison thanks him, and is sure not to speak loud enough for her enemy to hear. He can't change who he can advise after choosing, although he doesn't know what will happen if Alison dies while he advises. The good news, though, is that he could tell how many people were advising Alison, so it's not actually that likely that almost everyone will come in to tell Alison the same stuff.

He does explain that explosions do only happen if 2 colored pieces are both together at the end. He didn't try to run into one to try to find out if it hurt a player, but stepping on a grey tile will push the player like it does a colored piece. Otherwise, they can pass straight through each other if they start right next to each other, then move to each others tile. Plus, when a red and a blue one collide, they take out a 3x3 area. If two of the same color hit, then... he has no idea, that seems far less predictable.

He doesn't know much else, he got caught off guard and died almost as soon as possible. Alison thanks him again, as it does help.

>Could Sevener absorb him?
If she could, she didn't.

>Look at Tinyfeet's board and see if there is anything Alison remembers about CAI fights
She isn't able to access anything like that.

Alison stays still, the member moves up.
>>
No. 464938 ID: c4e5c2
File 135081461969.png - (77.03KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-T-8-action.png )
464938

The pieces move.
>>
No. 464939 ID: c4e5c2
File 135081464649.png - (77.61KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-T-9-placement.png )
464939

And the arrows push some blocks. Alison also gets pushed down.

Turn 9 - Placement
>>
No. 464943 ID: 886a4d

Grey arrow Up on Y-13

Red attack on row 4 moving left (to the right of the board)

Blue attack on column D moving up (bottom of the board.)
>>
No. 464944 ID: f2c20c

>they take out a 3x3 area.
YIKES. No wonder Sevener wins when she fights us. Not knowing about that means you stand a good chance of dying immediately.

I'm seeing a strategy here, now that we know greys can move red/blue waves.

Place greys on the opponent's board in order to move reds/blues into position to explode in places near the opponent. We don't have to plan ahead a lot. We just need to place reds and blues somewhat near the opponent, then steer them with greys. They CAN be used defensively, but mainly just to block that sort of strategy. Defense seems very difficult, in fact, because of the 3x3 detonation radius.

Red top edge of C, down. Blue top edge of D, down. Grey G2-left.

If he goes up, he'll likely drop next turn. If he goes left, we have an opportunity soon to use a grey to mix the parallel red-blue we just placed.
>>
No. 464950 ID: 26a7c1

>>464939
Gray G2 left.
>>
No. 464968 ID: d4ad1a

He's probably going to try to dodge the waves. At least, that's what I would do, if I didn't know how they worked, so let's take that into account as we figure out our attacks.
>>
No. 464971 ID: 44f93b

>>464968
Critically through, he doesn't know about the 3x3 explosion on impact. If we herd him right, it won't matter if he avoids the rays themselves.

Actually, we may want to place a grey to prevent the red-blue collision impending on Alison's field, to prevent him from learning of it.
>>
No. 464975 ID: c4e5c2
File 135084517021.png - (79.58KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-T-9-moveBegin.png )
464975

Rules update: Some experimentation went faulty, so apologies for the inconsistency by changing the following:
Greys will not be allowed to be placed on enemy boards further.
Colors will be placed, THEN another phase will be given to allow for greys to be placed down.


Movement phase
>>
No. 464976 ID: 4a328b

Move LEFT
>>
No. 464977 ID: f2c20c

>>464975
Go left.
>>
No. 464982 ID: 26a7c1

>>464975
...Well played, Tinyfeet. We'll have to remember that tactic for next time.

Step left.
>>
No. 464992 ID: c4e5c2
File 135084816183.png - (78.25KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-T-9-movement.png )
464992

Movement Over
>>
No. 464993 ID: c4e5c2
File 135084817660.png - (78.55KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-T-9-action.png )
464993

Pieces Move
>>
No. 464994 ID: c4e5c2
File 135084820828.png - (78.03KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-T-10-turn.png )
464994

Turn 10 - Color Piece Placement Phase
>>
No. 464995 ID: c4e5c2
File 135084822029.png - (19.69KB , 383x400 , CAI7-T-10-turn2.png )
464995

The hunter is visibly worried.
>>
No. 464996 ID: bf54a8

blue up C
>>
No. 464997 ID: 04b86a

Ask our advisor if he knows if we can place a red or blue piece in a hole made by an explosion.

Assuming he doesn't know:
Red down at F2 (just to see if we can target specific tiles)
If we can place the red there then Blue down at D3, else Blue down at E.

>>464996
Downvoting. Placing a blue there now will mean it won't collide with the red at C1.
>>
No. 464999 ID: 4a328b

Blue right 4 Red left 4
>>
No. 465002 ID: bf54a8

>>464997
c1? no i want it to collide near the middle, which would cut hunter's board almost cleanly in half
>>
No. 465003 ID: 44f93b

...is our adviser still here? We may want to ask him to pass message to the people at the dream house, if he ends up returning there, since we can't currently access our ghosts. I'd still like to enact plan have-corruption-attack-while-the-admins-are-out.

Fire a red and blue at each other from opposite ends of row 6.
>>
No. 465004 ID: 04b86a

>>465002
I was talking about the red currently at C1. They have to end up on the same tile to explode, so putting a blue there now will cause them to miss each other.
>>
No. 465005 ID: e3f578

>>464995
Alison
become visibly chill
4 blue right in my opinion
>>
No. 465017 ID: 886a4d

Place Red at column C moving up (bottom of the board)
Place Blue at row 5 moving right. (left of the board)
>>
No. 465040 ID: f2c20c

Blue left of row 4, pointing right.
Red down of column B, pointing up.
>>
No. 465061 ID: c4e5c2
File 135086914110.png - (108.65KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-T-10-greyPlace.png )
465061

>Have the advisor pass messages to the house
He can't access any ghosts either, he has about as much communication as Alison right now.

>Become visible chill
She tries her best, but she does feel a little bad. She also isn't a very good liar.

>Blue at row 4, to the left

In the interest of experimenting with the rules, Alison places the red differently.
>Red at F2, down
It appears to work, but will take 2 turns to reach the nearest available platform, in this case, F4.

Placement phase 2: Grey
>>
No. 465062 ID: 4a328b

Put an UP arrow on U 12..or would it be U 13 to make that red arrow move...?
>>
No. 465065 ID: 44f93b

>He can't access any ghosts either, he has about as much communication as Alison right now.
I mean, if and when he ever disappears to the dream house. We don't know that he's going to persist as a pseudo-ghost longer than a few turns, or until the end of this stage, or until the next pseudo-ghost appears.

>closeup
...trying to look chill makes you look glitched? :V
>>
No. 465066 ID: 4a328b

>>465065
Quick look even MORE chill, maybe we can glitch ourselves
>>
No. 465067 ID: c4e5c2
File 135086982265.png - (6.33KB , 214x353 , CAI7-T-10-glitchfix.png )
465067

>Trying to look chill makes you look glitched?
For a second but then it miraculously fixed itself somehow.

Alison lets the advisor know that if he does get sent back to the house, to please share everything he knows. He answers that that goes without saying.
>>
No. 465069 ID: f2c20c

>>465061
Oh hey, the red we placed in the empty spot has a '2' over it. That means that number must be how long before it becomes 'active'.

W11, right. Let's see if attacks vanish if pushed into destroyed tiles.
>>
No. 465070 ID: 886a4d

>>465062
They have to intercept at the move phase so itd be U13 going up
>>
No. 465077 ID: b6edd6

Next time w place a red or blue, we should check what happens if we place it top of it from the same direction. For example, if we put another red arrow on Tinyfeet's C-Down.
>>
No. 465078 ID: 886a4d

>>465069
Agreed.
>>
No. 465079 ID: c4e5c2
File 135087162519.png - (77.22KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-T-10-moveBeg.png )
465079

>Grey on W-12, to right.

Movement phase
>>
No. 465080 ID: 04b86a

>>465061
>Red at F2 worked
Cool!

>2
That's interesting. I guess that means it won't be able to react with the blue, then.

>Blue at row 4, to the left
It seems you get to last a bit longer without dying after all, Hunter.

Things we still need to try to test:
1) What happens if an attack piece is pushed into a destroyed area (pushing one off the board doesn't do anything to it, but it's still test-worthy)
2) If explosions happen before or after greys push things
3) Which direction a piece is pushed if being pushed by multiple greys.
4) If we can use the light trails in destroyed areas to move long distances
>>
No. 465081 ID: 4a328b

Move Up
>>
No. 465082 ID: 04b86a

>>465079
That should be W11.

Move up.
>>
No. 465084 ID: 886a4d

Hmmm, another thing to note, we can use grey arrows to double move if needed.
>>
No. 465085 ID: f2c20c

Move up, sure.
>>
No. 465086 ID: c4e5c2
File 135087265770.png - (78.80KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-T-10-moveEnd.png )
465086

That grey should have been W-11, and has been corrected.

Movement over
>>
No. 465087 ID: c4e5c2
File 135087266629.png - (77.59KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-T-10-pieceMove.png )
465087

Pieces move.
>>
No. 465088 ID: c4e5c2
File 135087268940.png - (76.65KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-T-11-colorPlacement.png )
465088

An arrow and red piece collide on Alison's board, and the red piece is thrown to the right. It continues going off of the light trail until it dissipates at the end.

Turn 11: Color placement

3 attacks are now available in one round!

>>
No. 465089 ID: 886a4d

Red D3 pointing down
Blue D3 pointing left
Blue Column D going up (bottom of the board)
>>
No. 465091 ID: f2c20c

>>465089
Let's try this for more experimentation.
>>
No. 465092 ID: 4a328b

Blue facing up C
Red facing Right 5
Blue facing up F
>>
No. 465093 ID: 04b86a

>>465088
>Tiles that move into destroyed areas are destroyed
Fascinating!

>Tiles don't move until their counter reaches zero.
Noted. I wonder if that red is going to be destroyed as soon as it tries to move to F3, or if it's going to skip ahead to the first available platform?

>>465089
Seconding this.
>>
No. 465094 ID: b6edd6

Wait, nevermind my previous suggestion, I forgot how the tiles moved.
Depending on how the delayed tiles work we might be able to place two tiles in the same place from the same direction though.
>>
No. 465111 ID: c4e5c2
File 135088343519.png - (78.88KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-T-11-greyPlacement.png )
465111

Grey placement starts
>>
No. 465112 ID: c4e5c2
File 135088349782.png - (47.22KB , 700x700 , CAI7-T-11-greyPlacement2.png )
465112

Twirl shows up. After brief hellos, Twirl shares that while there might be some undetermined inconsistences, when two pieces of the same color, red or blue, hit each other, depending on their momentum, will take out an entire line of platforms. She got caught with over half of her board made inaccessable in a single ill fated move, and didn't last long after. Double jump, as expected, does not help here.
>>
No. 465113 ID: f2c20c

>>465112
Depending on momentum? Ask for an example.
>>
No. 465114 ID: 4a328b

U17 pointing right
>>
No. 465116 ID: 886a4d

>>465114
Thats not going to accomplish anything. If you want to disable that blue lets try U-16 pointing down. Or V-17 pointing left.
>>
No. 465117 ID: 04b86a

>>465113
Yeah, ask what her experiences with that were. And did she try using the exposed light trail grid as a single, giant light trail with multiple possible exits?

And shit, we have two like-colored pairs on collision paths. The reds will be more devastating, so I recommend V13 up.
>>
No. 465119 ID: f2c20c

Guys, that red on column W is ready to intersect with either of the other two reds in play. Moving THAT one is probably the best idea.

That would be either X11-left, V11-right, or W12-up, and I'd like to note that X11-left allows the grey to stay on the board for longer.
>>
No. 465124 ID: 04b86a

>>465122
That won't get rid of it entirely. >>464939 Unless that was a bug or a rule change occurred, I suppose.
>>
No. 465129 ID: f2c20c

Oh shit, I just realized that having greys travel on the edges of the board allows someone to put two attacks next to eachother in order to explode them with only one turn of warning.

X11-left is not a good idea, let's do W12-up instead. That keeps both the grey and the attack away from the edge of the board. Thinking about it some more, attacks traveling along the edge also allows for rather quick explosions.

So basically when planning an attack, you can either try for a long-fuse explosion deep in the board, or a quick explosion at the edge. This is rather balanced.
>>
No. 465130 ID: 886a4d

>>465129
I can agree with this.
>>
No. 465131 ID: 886a4d

Two things to try next placement phase.

Two same coloured attacks in one spot moving in the same direction, and two different different colours on the same spot moving in the same direction.
>>
No. 465140 ID: dcd676

>>465131
This, and in that order. Though if the first one doesn't work, the second might lose priority in testing.

We are gonna have to be smart about this; the hunter's learning, too.
>>
No. 465148 ID: c4e5c2
File 135089357948.png - (81.66KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-T-11-movBeg.png )
465148

>Grey to W-12

>Example
Twirls case was when two pieces went perpendicular to each other on a corner. They cut across diagonally. She advises Alison to either do something about those blue arrows next, or do not move up when they hit.

Move Phase
>>
No. 465150 ID: 886a4d

Stay still.

Also we haven't tried something interesting. Diagonal Greys
>>
No. 465152 ID: 04b86a

>>465148
>diagonals
That's... that's downright deadly. And oh so easy to abuse!

Stay where you are.
>>
No. 465155 ID: c4e5c2
File 135089537051.png - (78.76KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-T-11-pieceMove.png )
465155

>Stay Still

Pieces moved
>>
No. 465156 ID: c4e5c2
File 135089539784.png - (79.16KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-T-11-reactions.png )
465156

Reactions
>>
No. 465157 ID: c4e5c2
File 135089542849.png - (78.29KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-T-12-colorPlacement.png )
465157

Turn 12 - Color Placement
>>
No. 465160 ID: 886a4d

Red and blue attack on C4, pointing down. (trying to finish this now.)

.... heh C4 kinda explosive.

Blue attack on Column C, pointing up (bottom of the board.)
>>
No. 465162 ID: 04b86a

>>465160
This looks good. The only ways out are things that haven't been tested yet.
>>
No. 465163 ID: dcd676

Grey to U16, pointing left.
>>
No. 465164 ID: 886a4d

>>465163
Even if it was defence placement that won't do anything. I think the best would be to shift taht attack up, so put a grey arrow pointing up on U-17 to do so.
>>
No. 465170 ID: 04b86a

>>465163
1) We can't use greys yet
2) The piece will move before its effect activates, so you need to offset it by one in the opposite direction of where it's pointing. So V16 left.
>>
No. 465171 ID: f2c20c

We aren't placing greys yet, guys.

That said, I agree with trying to put a red and blue on the same tile pointing the same way, and also try to get a same-color head-on collision.

How about Blue E3-down?
>>
No. 465231 ID: c4e5c2
File 135093236701.png - (80.99KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-T-12-greyPlacement.png )
465231

>Red and blue on C4, down
>Blue on C, Up

It appears that trying to place 2 pieces on the same tile pointed in the same direction pushes the second piece back in the queue. In this case, the blue one will appear on the turn after the red one reaches the grid.

Twirl apologizes, she forgot to mention that a grey piece will only push one thing around at a time. So if 2 colors and a gray arrow land on the same tile, the gray arrow will push one, and no explosion will occur.

Gray placement phase
>>
No. 465233 ID: 04b86a

>>465231
>Greys push things before explosions
Noted.

Grey at V16 left.

That's some pretty bad placement on Tinyfeet's part. That explosion that's about to happen at X11 is only going to destroy four tiles but will also take out three reds.
>>
No. 465242 ID: 886a4d

>>465233
Agreed. Also thats realy good to know.
>>
No. 465245 ID: c4e5c2
File 135093565292.png - (81.12KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-T-12-movBeg.png )
465245

>Grey on V-16, left

Movement
>>
No. 465247 ID: 4a328b

Stay still.
>>
No. 465248 ID: 886a4d

I don't see any reason to move, so stay still.
>>
No. 465249 ID: 04b86a

Our current spot still looks safe. Stay still.
>>
No. 465253 ID: c4e5c2
File 135093649427.png - (79.31KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-T-12-piecesMove.png )
465253

>Stay still

Pieces move
>>
No. 465254 ID: c4e5c2
File 135093650584.png - (79.42KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-T-12-reactions.png )
465254

Reactions
>>
No. 465255 ID: c4e5c2
File 135093651598.png - (76.72KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-T-13-colorPlacement.png )
465255

Turn 13 - Color Placement
>>
No. 465260 ID: 4a328b

B4 Red facing Down
E3 Red facing Down
Cbottom facing Up
>>
No. 465262 ID: 886a4d

E3 Blue pointing down
D4 Red Pointing Right
Column C Red at the bottom of the board pointing up
>>
No. 465263 ID: 04b86a

Red D4 facing down.
Red D-bottom facing up.
Blue 7-right facing left.

Next turn I think we should do E3 red facing down and blue D4 facing right. That'll be an explosion he won't be able to stop.
>>
No. 465268 ID: 886a4d

>>465260
That B4 won't hit. The two will sail on by.

>>465263
In fact if we play this right we can make at least 2 explosions that have to happen. Column B,C, E and F will have all their attacks in range for 1 turn knockdown. He can only delay one of them.
>>
No. 465269 ID: 04b86a

>>465268
Just for clarification, are you changing your support to my vote?

I should note that the D-bottom could optionally be blue, I just feel that using red may intimidate him a bit with the unknown result. I suppose if they do explode though it would also give us more knowledge of the ruleset.
>>
No. 465273 ID: 886a4d

>>465269
I personally think forcing a corner explosion is best so sticking to my own suggestions!
>>
No. 465312 ID: f2c20c

E3-down won't hit either. There has to be an odd number of tiles between the two attacks.

Red: left of row 5, pointing right.
Red: down of column C, pointing up.
Blue: right of row 7, pointing left.

All three are timed to explode in two turns, which means one is guaranteed to happen. Plus we can use any deflected attacks in future turns, don't forget that.
>>
No. 465319 ID: 886a4d

E3 down will hit D4 right.
>>
No. 465321 ID: f2c20c

>>465319
That's true, but it's also easy to deflect.
>>
No. 465324 ID: 886a4d

>>465321
.... we're getting too complicated look at where he is at. Hes completely cornered. The only place he can move and not hit an attack is down!

I'm changing my suggestions to:

E2 pointing down. (2 count)
Column D bottom red pointing up.
D4 pointing down.
>>
No. 465327 ID: 04b86a

>>465324
This is close enough to my vote. Changing my vote to this.
>>
No. 465330 ID: c4e5c2
File 135095243627.png - (80.18KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-T-13-grayPlacement.png )
465330

>Red on column D, Down
>Red on Column D, Up
>Blue on Column E, Down, 2 Turn

Gray placement phase
>>
No. 465331 ID: 886a4d

U-15 left... might as well remove that piece from the board.
>>
No. 465333 ID: 04b86a

>>465330
Two turns on each of the pieces he put down? Is that a bug, or is he planning something?

>>465331
Seconding this.
>>
No. 465334 ID: 4a328b

>>465331
Agreed
>>
No. 465340 ID: 04b86a

And since there's no harm in discussing it now, I think we should move left.
>>
No. 465341 ID: 44f93b

>>465331
>>465340
No objections.
>>
No. 465342 ID: 886a4d

>>465340
agreed, honestly defence placement doesn't really effect how we're gonna move. Unless we're using to to double move and thats easy enough to stack.
>>
No. 465362 ID: c4e5c2
File 135095814011.png - (79.83KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-T-13-movement.png )
465362

>Defence placement doesn't really effect how we're gonna move
Good point, and true. From now on, Grey arrow placement and player movement will be done in the same phase.


>Grey on U-15, left
>>
No. 465363 ID: c4e5c2
File 135095815202.png - (79.81KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-T-13-pieceMove.png )
465363

>>
No. 465364 ID: c4e5c2
File 135095816801.png - (79.59KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-T-14-colorPlacement.png )
465364

Turn 14, Color Phase
>>
No. 465368 ID: 886a4d

Blue on Columns C, and F pointing up
Red on D4 pointing right
>>
No. 465369 ID: 04b86a

I think Tinyfeet's given up at this point.

>>465368
This.
>>
No. 465371 ID: 44f93b

>>465368
thirding

>I think Tinyfeet's given up at this point.
Kind of looks like it.

Alison, make a point of saying you're sorry when/as he dies- I don't think you're going to be allowed to absorb.
>>
No. 465496 ID: c4e5c2
File 135098722694.png - (81.24KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-T-14-grayPlacement.png )
465496

>Blue on column C, Up
>Blue on column F, Up
>Red on D4, Right

Alison apologizes, she doesn't think that she'll be able to absorb here. Tinyfeet does not respond.

Gray placement
>>
No. 465498 ID: f2c20c

>>465496
Stay put.

Place a grey on W17, pointing right. That blue on the bottom right has the potential to hit two different ways, so it's the best target for deflection.
>>
No. 465499 ID: 0006f5

stay put. T 14, pointing left
>>
No. 465500 ID: 04b86a

>>465498
Exactly what I was about to suggest.
>>
No. 465505 ID: c4e5c2
File 135098942088.png - (81.34KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-T-14-playerMovement.png )
465505

The wiki has been updated with current known rules and order of events for references, located at the bottom. http://tgchan.org/wiki/Unnatural_Selection_Stats[/spoiler]

Movement Over
>>
No. 465506 ID: c4e5c2
File 135098943378.png - (81.88KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-T-14-pieceMovement.png )
465506

Piece Movement

Tinyfeet sighs.
>>
No. 465507 ID: c4e5c2
File 135098945653.png - (81.67KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-T-14-push.png )
465507

Push Phase

Tinyfeet takes back his sigh.
>>
No. 465508 ID: c4e5c2
File 135098948701.png - (79.16KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-T-15-colorPlacement.png )
465508

Turn 15 - Color Placement
>>
No. 465509 ID: c4e5c2
File 135098960998.png - (77.58KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-T-15-colorPlacement2.png )
465509

A belated movement by one blue piece on Alison's board occurs.
>>
No. 465511 ID: f2c20c

>>465508
Red D4-down
Blue D6-up
Blue F3-down

Something WILL explode next turn.
>>
No. 465512 ID: 04b86a

>>465511
Mostly this, but instead of Blue F3 down I suggest Blue D4 right.
>>
No. 465513 ID: f2c20c

>>465512
That will kill a diagonal, though. You'd probably want a red in that spot.
>>
No. 465514 ID: 04b86a

>>465513
That was the idea, but looking at the current understanding of the diagonals it probably wouldn't work the way I thought it would. So yeah, make that a red. It's a small enough area that I'm not sure why I chose blue over red, anyway.
>>
No. 465517 ID: f2c20c

>>465514
Good enough for me.
>>
No. 465518 ID: 679388

Time to experiment with red/red and blue/blue. Note that Lago says the 3x3 representation of red/red was wrong, but won't say what it does till we try again :c

Red F3 down.
Blue sandwich on B5.
>>
No. 465520 ID: c4e5c2
File 135099334516.png - (26.49KB , 760x380 , CAI7-T-14-correction.png )
465520

This should have been the correct explosion layout before the arrows pushed the pieces around.
>>
No. 465521 ID: c4e5c2
File 135099337738.png - (79.85KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-T-15-moveBegin.png )
465521

Grey/Movement Phase Begin
>>
No. 465524 ID: 886a4d

U-13 up
move left.
>>
No. 465532 ID: c4e5c2
File 135099978132.png - (79.23KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-T-15-moveEnd.png )
465532

Tinyfeet is still trying to hang on, but more out of desperation than any thought of winning.
>>
No. 465533 ID: c4e5c2
File 135099980371.png - (78.40KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-T-15-pieceMove.png )
465533

Piece Movement
>>
No. 465534 ID: c4e5c2
File 135099981481.png - (78.68KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-T-15-push.png )
465534

Pushes
>>
No. 465535 ID: c4e5c2
File 135099982553.png - (78.15KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-T-16-color.png )
465535

Turn 16, Color Phase
>>
No. 465538 ID: 886a4d

didn't see that arrow, revising. and experimenting. I want to see if its the direction the arrows are pointing that determines what row \ column they do or its actual movement!

All blue

B6 Up
C4 Down
C6 Up
>>
No. 465544 ID: 679388

B5 blue sandwich.
c6 blue up.
>>
No. 465548 ID: 886a4d

>>465544
Sure that will work too.
>>
No. 465550 ID: c4e5c2
File 135101326356.png - (81.00KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-T-16-moveBeg.png )
465550

>B4, Down
>B6, Up
>C6, Up

Gray, Movement phase
>>
No. 465551 ID: 886a4d

X-15 left
Move down.
>>
No. 465564 ID: 26a7c1

>>465551
Don't you mean W15? X15 won't actually do anything.
>>
No. 465566 ID: f2c20c

X-15 left is correct. The grey moves along with the colors, then it pushes.
>>
No. 465608 ID: 679388

Up on V3.

Stay put or move down.

I don't like the redsplosion that is about to happen on v2. It could do anything.
>>
No. 465615 ID: 04b86a

>>465608
Do you mean V13 and V12?

Judging by >>465520 they'll make a straight line along the path they were traveling - in other words, they'll take out the rest of row 12.

The really threatening explosion is the one about to happen at W15 - that large square hole that's about to appear will eat away about half of our board.
>>
No. 465618 ID: 886a4d

T11 and Z16 are both going to happen as well. Can't really delay 3 attacks, still I think the one in the center is the biggest threat.
>>
No. 465642 ID: 679388

>>465615
Yes, I meant 13 and 12, derp.

The main reason I worry about that is because, based on the same image, any red/red non-diagonal collision could simply nuke an entire vertical line... I am hoping you are correct, though.
>>
No. 465645 ID: f2c20c

What I think is weird is what happened here: >>465533
where there was a prevented red-red explosion that only hit one tile. What's up with that?
>>
No. 465647 ID: 04b86a

>>465645
Oh! That's a very good point. I don't think any of us noticed that. (It's on our board, for those who don't see it at first)
>>
No. 465672 ID: 679388

>>465645
Nice catch!

Changing vote to >>465551
>>
No. 465695 ID: c4e5c2
File 135104943685.png - (80.56KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-T-16-moveEnd.png )
465695

Tinyfeet realizes that all he is doing is introducing more rules for Alison, and is likely only helping her side by fighting a losing battle.
>>
No. 465696 ID: c4e5c2
File 135104944986.png - (79.84KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-T-16-pieceMove.png )
465696

>>
No. 465697 ID: c4e5c2
File 135104946493.png - (80.08KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-T-16-push.png )
465697

>>
No. 465698 ID: c4e5c2
File 135104948202.png - (11.65KB , 415x375 , CAI7-T-16-victory.png )
465698

Victory!

As expected, Alison is unable to absorb this one. She assures him that there are always copies of even supposedly dead individuals, and if there is a way to save him, and everybody, she'll do it.
>>
No. 465701 ID: c4e5c2
File 135104954616.png - (65.92KB , 700x700 , CAI7-17.png )
465701

Alison does get a sense of information. She may continue on to the next section and fight there, or act as an advisor to anyone she knows. If she continues on, Twirl and Holloweyes will continute with her. If Alison assists those who are doing this puzzle, then they will be free to choose who they wish to advise.

Current Ratio of living members, Alison | Administration
45% | 55%

Current Ratio of Section 1 CAI fight win percentages thus far, Alison | Administration

58% | 42%

Section 2: Freeroam Base Survival
Status: Preparations

>>
No. 465705 ID: f2c20c

I think I understand how same-color collisions work now. They explode and send out a 'jet' of destruction at the weakest point of the formation. They're like shaped charges, rather than bombs. Taking out a diagonal is easy- just have two same-color attacks intersect perpendicularly. Head-on collisions explode only one tile because there's no single direction for a jet to go in. Adding a third intersecting attack however creates a U-shape and tiles are destroyed in that direction, as we saw from the three-blue explosion we created. That was an excellent idea for testing, if it was on purpose! Also of note is that apparently when pushing an attack into another one that causes an explosion, the pushed attack counts as pointing the way it was pushed? I think? That seems to make the most sense, here.

>>465701
I'm not seeing a disadvantage to advising. Or does advising after winning mean we don't get to participate in section 2? If that's the case then we should definitely advance to section 2, since we're a T3 and therefore extremely valuable in combat. We would also be extremely valuable as a leader of our forces.
>>
No. 465706 ID: 886a4d

Advise of course. We need to help the others for a better survival rate. Twirl should continue on to preparations of the Freeroam section. While Advisor should pick someone on this list as well.

As for who to help? In order of priority

Scruffy
hes so new at this I'll be surprised if he survived this long but hes important for a straight out battle.

Engineer
Friendgy
Math
These guys sound critical to the next stage. We need planners.

Iso
Clarice
Strongarm
Atlas
For control of board.
>>
No. 465708 ID: 44f93b

Okay... we're winning more of our battles than they are, but we've got more people dead. That has to mean Administration outnumbers us- they're winning by attrition, or they have people who haven't been deployed yet (their weren't enough Alison-ites for every system member to be assigned a partner).

>Advance or assist?
Assuming we still get to advance after assisting (and that we're not commuting suicide) it seems like a good idea to get as many people as we can through this stage alive. (despite how slow and frustrating as this style of combat is, and how much more interesting freeroam would be).
>>
No. 465710 ID: 4a328b

Can we advise and then continue on after?
>>
No. 465711 ID: 04b86a

>>465705
>same color rules
Yeah, that seems accurate. Notice that the pieces end up off to the sides of the tiles instead of the center - that's obviously what controls how the attack is shaped.

>>465706
I don't think that's how this works. The fact that we're being given a choice suggests that if we stay to advise we'll be stuck as a ghost for the remainder of the emulation. The advantage for staying is that Alison and her advisors will be able to split up and help others on our side win their fights, which will also mean the administration will have fewer people.

Ignoring the fact that having one of our tier 3's stay behind rather than participate in a freeroam area is a bad idea, I imagine that at this point anyone that can't win on their own is probably to far behind at this point for us to be of any help.

I see no advantages to staying behind. Let's advance and get our bearings in the freeroam area.
>>
No. 465712 ID: 886a4d

I'm pretty sure we can advise then continue on. But I'm not positive. The advantage of continuing on now is most likely setting up the base itself for defense and learning the terrain.
>>
No. 465715 ID: 04b86a

>>465712
Well... if Twirl and Holloweyes continuing with us means they come back to life, then I suppose we'd get to continue on if whoever we're advising both wins and continues. That would make sense, and could make our staying here worth it. I don't think Alison has put much effort into designing freeroam traps, anyway. Come to think of it, that gives us a decent advantage over the administration.

Yeah, sure, changing my vote to advising.
>>
No. 465727 ID: f2c20c

Hmm... of note is that whoever is still fighting probably knows all the rules by now. We could advise tactically but I doubt we'd reveal new truths to them. Also of note is that everyone who dies early gets to advise someone, and that increases their chances of winning by quite a lot. Oh, and by this point, with half our troops dead, there are advisors spread around our forces already.

I think advancing gives us the best advantage.
>>
No. 465732 ID: 04b86a

>>465727
Half of our troops aren't dead. Both pairs of numbers are ratios, and without an actual number there could have been as little as 40 battles concluded thus far. Of course Sevener will have informed all of her forces of the rules so there should be hundreds finished by now, but even if a thousand have finished there will still be over 2,500 people that haven't had someone show up to help them out.

I also noticed something about the shaped charges: other explosions will block their path.
>>
No. 465740 ID: f2c20c

>>465732
Wait... that means... either the administration started with more players than us, so that even though we won more often they still outnumber us, or they're 'resurrecting' more people than us by taking advisers into the next stage before us.
>>
No. 465741 ID: 679388

I can't remeber if there's anyone in specific who we've been grooming for freeroam mode. If so, we shoukd consider advising them to make sure they advance. If not, we should probably advance ourselves so that we don't fall behind.
>>
No. 465742 ID: 04b86a

>>465740
Or that a lot of our people have been choosing to become advisors rather than go on. It's probably a combination of that and their defeated being brought to the next section.

We need to help either Arbiter or someone that's been dealing with trap making get to the next section. Engineer would be great if we brought him, but if we didn't and we recognize anyone else that's been doing that we should target them.
>>
No. 465743 ID: 886a4d

Ya I forgot Arbiter had trap \ base building experiance. He should be right after Engi in priority.
>>
No. 465762 ID: 04b86a

And the Chomper siblings! We need Twirl or Holloweyes to help one of the Chomper siblings get to the freeroam.
>>
No. 465799 ID: 44f93b

I'm fairly certain than if acting as an adviser required we kill ourself, and/or forbid us from moving on entirely, that the instructions would say so. We're choosing between helping our peers survive or trying to secure the next field before the enemy can.

>I can't remeber if there's anyone in specific who we've been grooming for freeroam mode.
Arbiter is the master of real world traps and fortifications (which seems relevant) and Gambler is the freeroam survivinator.

Another reason we want to make damn sure Arbiter survives? This is all sort of for naught if he doesn't make it to the administrator's room.

Although I seem to remember someone saying the CAI fight was all or nothing. No absorbs, no changing sides, two sides enter, one side leaves (implying, if we win, that our whole army lives). I can't find the quote, though.
>>
No. 465804 ID: 679388

>>465799
Let's try arbiter then. I was already leaning towards him anyways... sorry, Iso. :(

Also, Lago confirmed last night on IRC that everyone who entered the CAI fight and is on the winning side will come out alive at the end of the CAI fight.
>>
No. 465806 ID: 679388

>>465804
Argh, I keep second guessing myself. Let's try to advise chomper/scruffy and send our two advisors to engineer and arbiter. They can tell them everything we already know and what we don't know/want to experiment with.
>>
No. 465898 ID: c4e5c2
File 135111994925.png - (56.68KB , 700x700 , CAI7-17join.png )
465898

For whatever reason, Arbiter has no one advising him. Alison will go to him, she'll send Twirl after a Chomper, and Holloweyes after Engineer.

Alison quickly relieves Arbiter of worries that she died already, and brings him up to speed on the rules. He reveals that if an arrow pushes a colored piece into a same colored pieced, it'll take out every tile going in that direction.
>>
No. 465899 ID: c4e5c2
File 135111998689.png - (82.60KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-17greyPlacement.png )
465899

He is currently fighting Administrator #17. It took them awhile to figure out the initial hump of laying down colors.

Gray Placement/Movement Phase
>>
No. 465901 ID: e3f578

>>465899
grey down G5
go right
>>
No. 465904 ID: 04b86a

>>465898
>colored piece rules
Oh, so that's what happened. I liked the shaped charge idea, myself.

>>465899
Let's see here...
Red-blue explosion at E2 in two turns.
Red-blue explosion at F5 in two turns.
-Said explosion will also have a second red coming in from above, but that won't do any damage that the main explosion wouldn't.

>>465901
This, but we want it at G4. Don't forget to offset it a tile.
>>
No. 465905 ID: 44f93b

He's fighting an admin, and he didn't lose? Sevener didn't share the rules, then. Maybe she told her own forces? Or she kept them entirely to herself?
>>
No. 465916 ID: f2c20c

Why move right? Moving left will give him more maneuverability.

But yeah, G4-down.

Also I've noticed that the enemy is in a VERY vulnerable position. We can slap down attacks at the corners near him for immediate reduction of his area, or stack threats set to explode in the middle of his space. Next turn it's even possible to have four attacks pointed at eachother, depending on where he places his grey.
>>
No. 465958 ID: c4e5c2
File 135112894037.png - (82.45KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-17-moveEnd.png )
465958

Move End
>>
No. 465959 ID: c4e5c2
File 135112895408.png - (81.96KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-17-pieceMove.png )
465959

Piece Move
>>
No. 465960 ID: c4e5c2
File 135112899761.png - (82.03KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-18-colorPlace.png )
465960

Turn 18 - Color Placement
>>
No. 465962 ID: 04b86a

Blue up on E4.
Blue down on column G.
Red left on row 1.
>>
No. 465963 ID: f2c20c

>>465960
Blue G-down
Red 1-left
Blue E4-up

EXPLOSIONS.
>>
No. 465964 ID: 04b86a

Actually, I think we might be able to cut down his movement options more by sending to blues at G1. Thoughts?
>>
No. 465968 ID: 886a4d

>>465962
Sounds good.
>>
No. 465969 ID: 44f93b

>>465960
Why didn't the arrow on D3 push the red piece to C3? You can push pieces out of bounds, but not onto the naked grid?
>>
No. 465970 ID: 04b86a

Okay, I've look at it a bit more and I've concluded it's best to send to blues at G1. Trust me on this, nigh-guaranteed two moves from now.

>>465969
That piece had just been pushed down from D2.
>>
No. 465971 ID: 886a4d

>>465964
Actually no it wouldn't; either explosion is going to limit him to very few spots he can move. The following turns will see his death. Garunteed.
>>
No. 465972 ID: c4e5c2
File 135113076295.png - (83.90KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-18-movePhase.png )
465972

>Blue on E4, Up
>Blue on Col. G, Down
>Red on Row 1, Left

Grey Placement, Movement Phase

>>465969
Rule Discovered: A piece can only be moved by arrows once per round
>>
No. 465973 ID: 886a4d

Move down
F5 Left.
>>
No. 465974 ID: 04b86a

>>465972
I know this is technically what I wanted, but G-down is supposed to be blue, not red.

Rule Discovered: Pieces pushed into gaps with a tile on the other side will end up on the tile.


Stay still.
F5 left.

>>465973
The tiles below and to the left of G5 are about to be destroyed.
>>
No. 465976 ID: 886a4d

F5 and G6 will be destroyed. I suppose it doesn't matter about moving too much though.
>>
No. 465977 ID: c4e5c2
File 135113145949.png - (18.70KB , 496x286 , CAI7-18-fix.png )
465977

Correction, G down is blue.
>>
No. 465979 ID: 886a4d

You the fact that attacks move across gaps indicate we probably can move across gaps as well. If we face a death or leap sort of deal we should try it.
>>
No. 465980 ID: f2c20c

Huh, new rule. Okay.

We also discovered here >>465506 that a grey can only move one arrow per round. I'm unsure what the priority is on that.

We know that if a grey arrow pushes an attack wave over a gap, then the wave skips over the gap entirely. I wonder if players can do that too? Then getting your board cut in half with a diagonal wouldn't be so bad. Maybe we can convince the enemy admin to test that for us once we've got him severely cornered.

>>465972
We really need to get closer to the center of the board. The edges are hazardous because explosions trigger faster near the edges! Go left.

Also, put the grey on F5-left.
>>
No. 465981 ID: 04b86a

>>465979
Yes! That fixes what was wrong with my old hope for how using the grid would work! I'm just as understandably reluctant to test it, though.

>>465980
When a colored piece moves to another tile, it ends up on the edge closest to its old tile. Judging from what we've seen so far, the piece on the top of the tile has the highest priority, followed by the piece on the right, then the bottom, then the left.
>>
No. 465995 ID: 886a4d

You know before this administrator dies we should ask a few questions. Do his logs indicate whether hes made it to the final stages? Why does the system lose with all the advantages they have over the contestents? Things like that.
>>
No. 465996 ID: ad13ca

>>465974
The attack piece must have jumped on its own. Grey movement is applied after colored movement, so it was already in the gap before it would have been pushed. The grey arrow should have no effect on it.
It might just be a mistake, though. Or it might have only jumped because the gap was 1 across. Hard to say. We should't invent rules when any number of factors could be at play.

The options for arbiter here are terrifying. He will either get stuck in the top right or he can make a run for the bottom left of the board. Running might buy some additional time, but could also be dangerous.

E6 up is better than F5 left because it renders whatever piece remains harmless. F5 left lets it come back onto the board next turn. I'm assuming that priority for pushing with multiple pieces is clockwise, but in this case I don't think it matters.

If we stay here this turn, we will most likely get pushed up top unless the admin makes a mistake. Top will become a dead-end that kills us within 2 turns. Go left. Head for the bigger group of blocks. We have a slighty higher chance of lasting longer.
>>
No. 466019 ID: 04b86a

>>465996
>The blue wasn't affected by the grey
Oh! Yeah, sorry about that, I didn't notice that. The gap size definitely doesn't matter, though, that happened back in the last fight, too. >>465532 >>465533

>E6 up
I haven't been taking which piece will get pushed into consideration until now because I was uncertain about the rules for it, but yeah, that is safer.

Changing my vote to E6 up.
>>
No. 466020 ID: 886a4d

>>466019
Sure.
>>
No. 466261 ID: c4e5c2
File 135121771829.png - (82.84KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-18-moveEnd.png )
466261

Alison gets Arbiter to ask the administer if his logs indicate he made it to the final stages. He says his only log said to trust Sevener, but he had not had time to talk to her in length as of yet. This CAI incident happened too early.

>Grey to E6, Up
>>
No. 466262 ID: c4e5c2
File 135121773171.png - (82.34KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-18-pieceMove.png )
466262

>>
No. 466263 ID: c4e5c2
File 135121774714.png - (82.75KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-18-push.png )
466263

>>
No. 466264 ID: c4e5c2
File 135121776266.png - (78.54KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-19-colorPlacement.png )
466264

Turn 19 - Color Placement Phase
>>
No. 466267 ID: 44f93b

>trust Sevener
Interesting. That means she didn't act just in her own interest in at least one loop.

>colors
Put another red to the right of G1, and put a red and blue above and below E1?
>>
No. 466268 ID: 04b86a

>>466264
>He moved up.
Yes. Yes! YES!

Blue at column F down!
Blue at F2 up!
>>
No. 466269 ID: 886a4d

Well. Hes dead. If not this turn then the next.

Blue Column E, F down
Red E2 Up
>>
No. 466273 ID: 04b86a

>>466268
Or... hmm... he can always use a grey to move two tiles left, can't he? How can I see that now but not back when I was seeing if he had any way out other than trying to jump down?

Make the last one something E-down, then, maybe that'll be enough to keep him from being moved.
>>
No. 466276 ID: 886a4d

I'm looking at our board and we might be in trouble next turn. That grey arrow means we can't move left without suiciding and if he knows how to use those blues right is out as well. Our only escape will be down!
>>
No. 466277 ID: f2c20c

>>466264
Blue, column F pointing down.
Red, row 1 pointing left.
Blue, column E pointing down.

Checkmate. If he tries to move left and deflect the rightmost red arrow, it will impact with the blue in column E. There's no way he can move right and survive, so he's dead with this placement.
>>
No. 466278 ID: ad13ca

Clockwise arrow pushing priority possibly confirmed (at least, up is higher pri than right).

>>466267
He can survive 3 turns with this.

>>466268
>>466269
2-turns. Blue sandwich on F is best because it should guarantee an explosion regardless of arrow placement. His only legal move will be to go to D1 using an arrow push.

My final suggestion:
Blue sandwich on F.
Red or blue piece on C1 pointing right with time delay 2.
>>
No. 466279 ID: f2c20c

>>466277
Err, leftmost.
>>
No. 466280 ID: f2c20c

>>466278
>arrow push to D1
Oh dang, that would actually work to escape the blast radius in my placement, too. He would be completely stuck then though and guaranteed to die on the next explosion.
>>
No. 466281 ID: f2c20c

>>466280
...unless the grey arrow refuses to move players and attack waves at once, and prioritizes moving attack waves. Then it would just push the blue wave in column E and leave him there to get dropped.

Come to think of it, him trying that escape should reveal if that's a limitation.
>>
No. 466282 ID: 886a4d

Honestly he is probably going to try going down.
>>
No. 466283 ID: ad13ca

>>466277
He can deflect an arrow from E to F, so it is not checkmate. However, this would force him to either have 2 or 1 tile remaining, both of which are 1-hit kills. I think mine is more fun, though, because the last move sees him squished on all four sides. :D
>>
No. 466285 ID: 04b86a

>>466276
Crap, we did not look at this well enough. If he places a red at G6-up and sandwiches Arbiter's tile with a red and a blue, our only escape will be to place a grey-down on Arbiter's tile and jump down hoping we make it to F6.

And because my vote had ended up spread across two posts, I'll repeat it here:
Sandwich F1 between two blues (unstoppable 3x3 explosion when the red hits)
Blue-down on column E (to try to keep him from using a grey to escape to D1)
>>
No. 466286 ID: f2c20c

>>466283
E to F would result in an explosion at F1, which would catch him. He COULD move left while deflecting an arrow from F1 to G1 though.
Forcing a defeat is hard in this game... It seems like you have to just keep chipping away until there is literally nowhere to go.

At any rate, most of these placement setups would result in him barely escaping, with only 1 or 2 tiles left to stand on.

I'll switch my vote to >>466278 because it gives a good strategy for the second turn and guarantees that he has nowhere to run then.
>>
No. 466287 ID: f2c20c

>>466285
It would've been fine if we had placed a grey pointing towards the edge of the board instead of the middle. Greys should always be placed to exit the board asap while accomplishing their purpose, otherwise the enemy can use them to plan attacks. Once a grey is past the first turn, they're out of our control and become the enemy's tools.
>>
No. 466288 ID: f2c20c

>>466285
Oh, also, jumping to F6 wouldn't spare us from the explosion at G5. There's nowhere safe to jump to! The only chance of escape if the enemy uses that placement is to place a grey at F4 and go left so it pushes Arbiter into D4. That depends on how overlapping greys have priority and/or if greys are able to push players off the board.

It seems the most precarious position is when there are many tiles near you but you're fenced in by holes. Then multiple explosions can be triggered without an escape route.
>>
No. 466291 ID: 04b86a

>>466288
If we make it to F6, then we'll end up on F7 when the grey I said to put down pushes us.

Now if he places a red-up at G6 and then sends a red and blue at G7, then we'll want to take a chance with the colliding greys because that means he thinks we can jump gaps and will be attempting to jump down next turn, and surviving that will be the only way we'll possibly be able to last long enough to take him out.
>>
No. 466310 ID: f2c20c

>>466291
Oh, you mean jumping via regular movement? I really doubt that's possible. I thought you were suggesting we put a grey block above Arbiter so that he'd be pushed down.
>>
No. 467984 ID: c4e5c2
File 135182289519.png - (77.61KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-19-movePhase.png )
467984

>Blue sandwich on F1.
>Red/Blue on C1 pointing right, 2 turns

Grey Placement/Move Phase
>>
No. 467987 ID: f2c20c

>>467984
Phew. I see one guaranteed safe route.

Move right, place the grey on G5 pointing up. It will shove Arbiter clear of that explosion on G5, and then we have a one-turn advantage on our enemy.
>>
No. 467988 ID: e3f578

move left
grey pointing left E4
>>
No. 467989 ID: 886a4d

Grey on G5 pointing up. Move Right.
>>
No. 467990 ID: 886a4d

>>467988
That will kill us. Theres already an arrow E5.
>>
No. 467992 ID: e3f578

>>467990
Greys move each turn with the colored blades
Pointing up at G5 is just going to make the grey miss and the red and blues to collide, I think.

I don't know, I keep mixing up rules here. I think the grey's move, and with the move along their direction each turn, then the colored blades move and almost explode, but then one is moved by the grey. What I I know next turn for sure a red blue is going to blow within our reach no matter where we move.

I remember being convinced that putting a grey pointing somewhere on the exact tile where the collision would take place was a bad idea. Here >>465901
>>465904
>>
No. 467993 ID: 886a4d

>>467992
We don't want to hit the coloured things at all... we're using it too double move.
>>
No. 467995 ID: c4e5c2
File 135182391177.png - (78.02KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-19-movePhaseEnd.png )
467995

>Grey on G5, up

Movement Over
>>
No. 467996 ID: c4e5c2
File 135182392661.png - (77.47KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-19-pieceMove.png )
467996

Piece Movement
>>
No. 467997 ID: c4e5c2
File 135182394484.png - (74.63KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-19-Push.png )
467997

Push Phase
>>
No. 467998 ID: c4e5c2
File 135182396497.png - (73.64KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-20-colorPlacementPhase.png )
467998

Turn 20 - Color Placement Phase
>>
No. 467999 ID: 886a4d

Red Down Column D
Red Left E1
Red Right Row 5. Just in case he does escape down below.
>>
No. 468001 ID: f2c20c

>>467998
We're gonna get out of this by the skin of our teeth!

Just surround his square with all colors.
>>
No. 468003 ID: e3f578

>>468001
Oh my god
Let's figure out what happens when four collide, 2 v 2 blue pointing left row 1
red up and down column e
>>
No. 468004 ID: f2c20c

>>468003
Yeah, maybe we'll get a 5x5 explosion!
>>
No. 468013 ID: c4e5c2
File 135182586432.png - (76.25KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-20-greyPlacementPhase.png )
468013

Gray Placement/Move Phase
>>
No. 468014 ID: f2c20c

>>468013
Move up. Grey at G3 pointing up.
>>
No. 468016 ID: 886a4d

G3 up
Move up.
>>
No. 468037 ID: c4e5c2
File 135182854407.png - (77.18KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-20-movementDone.png )
468037

Movement End
>>
No. 468038 ID: c4e5c2
File 135182856035.png - (76.33KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-20-pieceMove.png )
468038

Piece Move
>>
No. 468039 ID: c4e5c2
File 135182858371.png - (74.19KB , 1200x900 , CAI7-20-Push.png )
468039

Push phase
Administrator is defeated!
>>
No. 468040 ID: c4e5c2
File 135182863775.png - (55.68KB , 700x700 , CAI7-20-victory.png )
468040

It looks like the turn ended prematurely, but by the looks of it, it would be hard to tell if the explosion was much different considering there were no other tiles around.

Continue advising, or move onto the next section? 8% of initial section 1 fights are still in progress.
>>
No. 468042 ID: 886a4d

... I think its time to move on to the next stage. Considering how beat up this board was we aren't going to help more then one more person. And the next stage must need at least some preperation if its allowing us the option.
>>
No. 468044 ID: f2c20c

Next section! Let's get Arbiter in on the trap preparations pronto.

The 4-piece explosion wasn't a 5x5, that's for sure. There would've been tiles in range for that- wait... nevermind. Due to how the explosion here happened >>467997 on the bottom right, it seems that explosions don't pass over missing tiles or through a diagonal gap. So, I guess there's no way to tell. Maybe someone else managed to witness it occurring.

At least we managed to discover that grey pieces will prioritize pushing a player over pushing attacks.
>>
No. 468047 ID: 3338b5

Let's move on.
>>
No. 468050 ID: 04b86a

>>468044
>can't go through diagonal gaps
No, I'd say that was a bug. We've already seen an explosion do that before. >>465156

Judging by how far the Administrator was pushed, though, I'd say it's a fair bet that we can at least use greys to cross gaps, and I see no reason why we couldn't also cross them by jumping.
>>
No. 468058 ID: f2c20c

>>468050
That isn't a diagonal gap. It went around.
>>
No. 468060 ID: 04b86a

>>468044
>bottom right
>>468058
Oh! Sorry, I thought you were talking about the explosion at D4, which was bugged.
>>
No. 468069 ID: f2c20c

>>468060
Oh, you're right about that. Didn't matter in the end though.
>>
No. 470631 ID: c4e5c2
File 135262959272.png - (18.80KB , 707x464 , CAI7-21-begin.png )
470631

Alison and her advisors move on. They and Arbiter are able to talk with each other still, but no one else that is presumably on the new map.

Preliminaries: 40% completed

Choose a starting location!
>>
No. 470642 ID: 04b86a

>>470631
>Alison's advisors came with her
Really? That interesting, I figured they didn't count as her advisors anymore since they went to advise other people.

>40% complete
So we still have over half the allotted time to prepare. Cool.

So then, a conquest stage. The castle at F has a star, so I assume their goal is to capture that location. Or maybe it just gives a bonus of some sort, but if that's all it did there'd be more of them and it wouldn't be so hard to get to.

So, priorities. A and B are each connected to three uncaptured platforms, so they need to be heavily fortified. C and E, though, are each connected to a platform that, in turn, is connected to four hostile platforms, which makes it difficult enough to hold that decent fortifications for those are a must as well. Platform D is a choke point that they have to go through to beat us and F is probably capable of being even better defended, so on the plus side it should still be possible to win even if we have to make a last stand.

Building on that, we have two extremes we can go between:
1) Defensive: Give C and E the highest priorities.
2) Offensive: Give A or B the best damn fortifications we can muster and capture the three platforms connected to the other. This is obviously extremely risky, but has the highest potential rewards. If we do go to this extreme we should give D decent defenses so that failure to hold everything isn't a death sentence before we even have a chance to recapture everything.

I'm suggesting we send Alison and Arbiter to A and start preparing for the offensive strategy, since we have enough time to prepare that we'll be able to do something different depending on what we're actually capable of doing and what our allies think should be done. Be sure to ask someone what's already been learned about the ruleset and fort layouts.
>>
No. 470650 ID: f2c20c

>>470631
Not knowing exactly what's in store for us, I think we should pick a flexible starting location, like C or E.

Of note is that C and E also connect to the middle point. That very center point is the most important tile in this board! Anyone occupying it can bypass the edges. On the other hand if you do use it to bypass the edges then you wind up surrounded by enemy forces... Maybe it's less useful than it looks, for offense. I think it's a very important defensive square though, considering it can send reinforcements to half the tiles in our base.
>>
No. 470654 ID: 886a4d

I'm going to say C. Pity once again we have no idea of the ruleset.
>>
No. 470668 ID: c807ff

>>470631
B, if only because we have no idea what's behind it.
>>
No. 470670 ID: 70c0f2

So this is some kind of war game now? Building up and capturing territory? Probably with turn based strategic movement phases, and tactical freeroam combat phases inside at the castles?

C or E seems a good place to start- gives us
the widest options of places to move.

>>470668
I would assume the playing field is symmetrical. Rows go 1 blue, 3 blue, 2 blue, 5 neutral, 2 red, 3 red, 1 red. B should connect to 3 neutral spaces, same a A.

Interesting to note: that little flag up there would seem to be our first in-universe sighting of Sevener. Pretty good confirmation the preemptive fanart was prescient after all!
>>
No. 470672 ID: f2c20c

>>470668
I'd bet money that the playing field is fully symmetrical.
>>
No. 470738 ID: c4e5c2
File 135266726709.png - (22.54KB , 700x700 , CAI7-21-rolechoose.png )
470738

The Arbiter and Alison head to Castle C, where they are greeted by Blue, or maybe someone like him.

He asks Alison and Arbiter what role they want to be. Architect, Repair, Support or Fighter.

Alison asks what the differences are. Blue says his help files appear to be missing, assuming there were supposed to be help files in the first place. All he knows is that support and fighter are for manually defending and invading, while architects are for building traps and repairs for, well, repairing them. Anyone can do anything another role can, such as building traps, but an architect will simply be much faster at it.
>>
No. 470742 ID: 886a4d

We'll be a Fighter. Arbiter shall be Architect. Hes much more familiar with such.

Also ask our advisors how the battles they helped with went.
>>
No. 470746 ID: f2c20c

>>1004262
That sounds about right.
>>
No. 470760 ID: 70c0f2

Is there anyone else already at the castle? If so, what roles have they taken?

>>1004262
This seems right. Arbiter has practice building up a fortified base, and Alison double attack + higher speed sounds useful.

Any idea what support does? It's the only role that isn't obvious.
>>
No. 470786 ID: 886a4d

I'm fairly certain stats will be assigned to us based on what we pick. It doesn't make sense for someone who picks Repair to have tier 3 stats based around combat after all.
>>
No. 470807 ID: c4e5c2
File 135267929472.png - (17.34KB , 700x700 , CAI7-21(2).png )
470807

Alison heads out after choosing fighter, while Arbiter chooses architect. She does not appear to have access to any stats at all, still. She finds Engineer standing in the hall. Greeting him, she asks where everyone is, and what they're doing.

He informs her that he is building traps down this entire hallway. Most people are trapping other halls, or they're trapping light trail paths. Apparently that's a thing now. It's an incredibly abstracted process, as he's more or less just standing here. He wouldn't think that there'd be any point to knowing actual engineering, except he seems to be building at about twice the speed as other architect roles, and more effective traps at that. He can only assume this is because of his learned skills. It also feels that he is, in a sense, building it mentally, and so it may count as practice anyway. It's rather surreal, he thinks.
>>
No. 470809 ID: 70c0f2

Weird.

Do we have information on our distribution of forces? How many people at each castle, and in what roles?
>>
No. 470810 ID: 4a328b

Wonder if Scanner can get any information about this stuff
>>
No. 470812 ID: e3f578

You know Alison, there's something weird going on here that I just now noticed. Mathematician aced Mathematical concepts pretty quickly from a mere book, and so has Engineer along with physical concepts and invention concepts. They've become masters at their trade with a few mere months (in their perspective, even less in our own) of study. I think people might actually keep some semblance of learned skills when the big restart happens, like it's in muscle memory or something. They just need a quick refresher. Ask him if he felt like he was learning familiar concepts when he was reading the books, or if it felt natural at first. Ask if he thinks he should have struggled somewhere where he didn't with a concept. You may in fact have a hidden learned skill in your muscle memory if it happens to be true! Or several!

Ask around and see who's survived. Along with their roles.
>>
No. 470813 ID: f2c20c

Did Chomper make it? I kinda doubt he's invincible/instakill now, what with lacking stats, but it's worth finding out. We should take stock of other notable persons too.

Maybe we should've had people take optional-skills in fields that were similar to their weapon's fighting style, and climbing and suchnot. We should definitely have people take optional skills that fit these four roles regardless.
>>
No. 470815 ID: 886a4d

Well we spent most iterations... being a leader. It makes sense how quick people come around to our way of thinking if they are used to following us through loop after loop. Probably becomes almost instinctive.

Anyway lets see if we can't find someone who picked support. They might have access to preliminary skills like Architects do. Then lets head to the top of the castle and try our hand at some creative trap making ourselves. I'm thinking... a telescope.
>>
No. 475304 ID: c4e5c2
File 135415433995.png - (9.36KB , 700x700 , CAI7-21(3).png )
475304

>Ask Engineer if he felt like he was learning familiar concepts when he was reading the books, or if it felt natural at first, and if he thinks he should have struggled somewhere where he didn't with a concept.
It felt natural, he says, once he bought the shop skill of engineering talent. For the last question, it's hard to say, but so far it's hard to tell if there has been a place where he should have been struggling. He generally hasn't been finding certain areas insurmountable though.

Alison does bring up the prospect that they may have some muscle-memory like recollection of gained knowledge. Engineer says that it is possible, but it's hard to tell how much, if any, is knowledge from past lives and how much is that he's simply spent far more time with the engineering talent than others. No matter the case, purchasing the natural talent in a shop always does help greatly in learning something far faster than would be realistic.

>Ask around and see who's survived. Along with their roles.
Engineer hasn't scouted much, but he knows that Duelist is at the top of this castle. Engineer also made a few telescopes to be passed around the castles, which seems to help in showing how many are where. So far, there does not seem to be any method of long range communication.
>>
No. 475305 ID: c4e5c2
File 135415439602.png - (20.07KB , 700x700 , CAI7-22.png )
475305

Alison makes the trek upstairs along with Arbiter and Twirl. Twirl still appears to be a ghost, but it feels like she has some rudimentary, weakened stats. Twirl, and the other ghosts, are also not able to build any traps, but may be able to help fight off invaders.

Duelist greets everyone, hugs are given, and says that there were more round 1 wins to their side than on the administrator's, but not by much. There are a bit over 2,000 individuals remaining for Alison's that are living, plus a bit under 2,000 ghosts. There are more fighters than anyone else, but only about 500 architects.

Alison asks about Chomper, and apparently he did make it though, although does not have instant kill. She then asks about support, who duelist says that while he is a fighter, he has been told that support is a mix between able to heal allies and repairing traps. And lastly, there does not seem to be any Scan abilities, so scanner does not have any innate namesake ability.
>>
No. 475306 ID: c4e5c2
File 135415440977.png - (25.84KB , 707x464 , CAI7-22(2).png )
475306

A look is taken through the telescope. Alison has a pretty clear vision to all of the locations, and can do a quick, approximate count, ghosts included.

She doesn't think too hard about how she is able to count people who are inside castles.

There are also a lot of people protecting the light trails themselves.
>>
No. 475310 ID: 70c0f2

>telescopes
>no means of long range communication
If you can see people, they can communicate with you! I mean, we already developed a non-verbal communication system, didn't we?

If you can't resolve well enough to perceive the hand signals / battle language, we could always fall back on morse code using lights, mirrors, and telescopes. Or, uh, bobbing the flags on the castles or something.

>>475306
That's a strangely regular troop distribution for what you'd expect to be a semi-random distribution.
>>
No. 475311 ID: 4a328b

If we can use a telescope to see other castles, we can probably set up some kind of simple signalling system--like signal flags or light signals. Blue flag for "being attacked" Red flag for "attacking" yellow flag for "Please send reinforcements"...that sort of thing. If we can currently travel between castles we should be able to set up such a system, right?
>>
No. 475321 ID: f2c20c

>>475306
Alright, since everyone can perform every role, let's have everyone making traps everywhere.

Also, what advantage is there to guarding a light trail instead of guarding a castle behind its traps? What advantage is there to holding onto castles, anyway? It's not like we're generating additional troops or resources by holding onto them... unless there is some sort of respawn mechanic in play for this fight?

Let's use the telescopes to look at our enemy's movements! Sevener is going to be in there somewhere, and she knows the rules, so she should know how to play this game far better than us. Knowing how she is placing her troops should give us clues as to the nature of this game.
>>
No. 475330 ID: c4e5c2
File 135416067787.png - (89.46KB , 856x577 , CAI7-24.png )
475330

>If you can see people, they can communicate with you! I mean, we already developed a non-verbal communication system, didn't we?
This is true, although it may require some modification, as it was intended for standard platform stages and was never anything like a true sign language. Nonetheless, it won't be hard to set up simple commands and have people posted at telescopes. Alison has Arbiter go make rounds to set that up. From what she can gather, everyone is making traps as best as they can.

>That's a strangely regular troop distribution for what you'd expect to be a semi-random distribution.
Alison gets the impression that it doesn't take that long to move from one location to another, so within a few turns, it's possible to even things out.

For now, Alison asks engineer about looking at enemy troops, as she can't seem to see that far. He says she might be able to see it if she moves to the far end castle, as a telescope should've arrived there only a few turns ago.

So Alison takes 2 turns to head to castle A, where she finds Guardsman. He asks where scanner is, but Alison doesn't know.
>>
No. 475331 ID: c4e5c2
File 135416069287.png - (25.45KB , 803x408 , CAI7-24(2).png )
475331

Alison takes a look through the telescope. There are a few stragglers of negligible numbers on the light trails, but ultimately all of the enemy forces are in more specific castles.
>>
No. 475333 ID: 4a328b

Sevener knows more than we do about CAI fights and has probably told her forces to consolidate in the castles. There is likely a reason for this, we should do the same.
>>
No. 475339 ID: f2c20c

>>475331
This highly suggests that they plan to stage a large offense in the center tile. Hey, here's an important question. Is it possible to skirt around a castle to get to other light trials, or do you have to go past traps and such? Can we just avoid taking over castles and zoom straight to the rear? In THAT case the only castle that counts is your final one, and guarding light trails has some merit. Also, I'm not sure if there's any point to taking over castles. What do we get from it? If it just lets us fortify and block enemy movement, then in theory we could just make one or two castles super-fortified, and have just skeleton crews holding onto the other castles to repair traps after they're all set up. We want to avoid army-on-army battles as much as possible to make our traps do most of the work. ...it kindof looks like that's what Sevener is doing. Perhaps she plans to field a force of about 3000, right in that middle square?

I think for now we should have Guardsman go tell our troops to get off the light trails, and have 800 in each of our front four castles. Let's try mimicking our opponent until we find out more about the strategical value of castles.

This game would be most interesting if holding onto castles allowed dead troops to respawn as ghosts. There even seems like a mechanic in place for that- ghosts are weak and can't build traps. An alternative is that our troops have their power bolstered by the number of occupied castles... We could try completely evacuating a castle to see what happens.
>>
No. 475390 ID: f2f031

Likely, your strength is in traps and constructions while Sevener's is in direct combat. Since castles seem to offer no indirect benefits, you should view them as expendable sources of traps; meaning you capture weak castles, quickly lay traps, hold a siege for a a short while, then abandon it when the traps are spent, and move to another territory. All you have to be careful about is not getting pinned between a strong army and a strong garrison.

This strategy in mind, I suggest pooling all but a skeleton-crew per castle together on one of the two front-most castles inorder to get Sevener into chasing a single target over your already well prepared territories.

If Sevener chooses to chase with one large massed force, you can easily lead it on a chase through your territory to soften it up. If instead the force is split into multiple forces inorder to surround you, you can attack the farthest and weakest army to break through their nets.
>>
No. 475411 ID: 886a4d

>>475390
This sounds good. We can fortify our inner three castles the most with all the architects once the battle starts, while our fighters and support types lead the rest on a merry chase \ take advantage of any weaknesses they have. If they do head inward immediately though we will have to go for a direct confrontation.

.... in fact it might be wise to have half our ghost troops stay with the architects in case we get out maneuvered while the other half starts to assual their castles.
>>
No. 475448 ID: 9b155d

>>475339
>Perhaps she plans to field a force of about 3000, right in that middle square?

There's a fourth red light-trail going to that middle tile. I'd plan around her having another 1000 castle there.
>>
No. 475492 ID: f2c20c

>>475448
Yeah but it'd be foolish to leave castles completely undefended. That's just asking to have a force sneak behind and zoom into your last castle.
>>
No. 475493 ID: 70c0f2

I'd warn that using a fighting retreat through our territory- sacrificing castles for tactical benefit- is effectively making assumptions about the win conditions of this stage!

If the win condition is "take the rearmost castle", "capture all territory" or "kill em all", a fighting retreat could work. If the win condition is "whoever has the most territory after a set number of turns" it's not such a good idea. Or if there is no win condition, and the goal is just to preserve as many people as you can for the next stage, while killing off as many of the enemy as possible.
>>
No. 476046 ID: f2c20c

Oh! If Engineer was able to make telescopes, then that means we have item creation abilities here, right?

Make ladders, poles, pickaxes, and other anti-trap gear. Heck, we might even be able to make barricades in the castles. What sort of traps can be made? Pressure plates and trap doors, I assume, but what about tripwires and motion/light sensors? I am wondering if we can exploit the limitations of the traps to bypass them in enemy castles. Like, for instance, bringing a bunch of ladders and just setting them on the ground to avoid both trap doors and pressure plates. Or we could even make several items that attach together to make a ladder big enough to reach the ramparts.

What's the layout of the castle interiors anyway?
>>
No. 476937 ID: c4e5c2
File 135486880105.png - (15.68KB , 748x360 , CAI7-24(3).png )
476937

>Make ladders, poles, pickaxes, and other anti-trap gear.
Alison sees if this is possible, and it does appear to be. Although doing so does cost time spent making defensive traps, orders are made to make sure that people are well equipped with basic, mundane items.

>Can we just avoid taking over castles and zoom straight to the rear?
This isn't something Alison can find out without directly testing it.

>What's the layout of the castle interiors anyway?
Although they appear to be basic, the non-capital castles appear to have 3 major floors, each one with one enormous door leading to the next. The capital castle appears to have 5.

Furthermore, Alison did not notice before, but not everyone in the castle are her contestant allies. Some appear to be linked to the castle itself, telling her that they are guardians for whoever owns the castle. There are about 20 per castle, and will not leave their assigned castle.

Alison is considering getting most people to fortify castles C, D and E, some on the capital, a smaller fraction on the front two least critical castles, and only leave the light trails the fortifications that are already in place. She'll also tell everyone to perform a fighting retreat until further notice if it comes to it. She can't be sure it's a good idea depending on the win conditions, but she has no idea what the win conditions are, so she can't think of a much better idea. From the sounds of it, the passage to the orange territory will be unlocked at turn 50, although she will be able to rearrange her forces just prior to turn 50 to even out her forces if need be. Duelist does expect Sevener to launch an all in offensive, but can't be sure. He asks if the projected setup is alright until turn 50.
>>
No. 476939 ID: 9b155d

Until turn 50 I'd have most of the units in the capital somewhere else building traps. If people feel the need to have more units in the capital in case something unexpected happens call them back right before turn 50.
>>
No. 476963 ID: c4e5c2
File 135489866344.png - (17.38KB , 700x700 , CAI7-34.png )
476963

Alison makes a minor adjustment by spreading out much of the capital's population to other capitals. With that, she and everyone begins setting up traps down bottlenecks and side rooms.

It appears that most people will successfully be equipped with mundane objects, and at the suggestion of Atlas, some grappling hooks may help in avoiding the first floor of traps in taking over castles.

On around turn 34, while Alison is making a false floor spike trap, she receives a Summon Ghost request for the corruptor.
>>
No. 476967 ID: ec6d4c

...that still works? I thought that only worked last time because we were in the dreamland! (aka ghost talk is really people-you've-absorbed-and-are-in-dreamland talk, and in normal play, all those people would be ghosts). Maybe he's cheating somehow? Or it still works because this CAI battlespace is similarly outside of normal play the way the dreamland is?

There's a small chance we might not get back in if we go to him now. But... I think it's worth the risk. Accept the call.

Eh... although we did tell shopkeep we wouldn't do that anymore? Although I'm not sure if that just applies to stages. I'm not sure if the system can detect that though, although wherever Glitcher sent Corruption should be safe from system intrusion.

>some grappling hooks may help in avoiding the first floor of traps
They may have thought of that too. We need counter grappling hook measures- false holds outside the castle that crumble a minute or so after putting weight on them, and people who can cut ropes.
>>
No. 476968 ID: d10f72

I guess we can patch him through? What could he possible want.
>>
No. 476976 ID: c4e5c2
File 135490228779.png - (17.14KB , 700x700 , CAI7-34(2).png )
476976

>We need counter grappling hook measures
Alison gives one last order to do this on poorly defended castles, as the grappling hooks likely will be most effective on castles that have too few inhabitants to cut ropes and chop ladders. She isn't sure, as she has not exactly had experience in medieval siege warfare.

Alison answers the call, to find that the corruptor looks as uneasy and awkward about seeing Alison again. She gives him a moment.

>"Hello, again, thank you for coming. How long have you been where you are?
"Hello Corruptor. I've been in a fight for 34 turns, or about 14 turns in my specific location. Perhaps around an hour in real time, but it's always impossible to tell. How did you summon me? I'm not in a position I thought I had to be in."
>"Yes, and my body size is invalid. As the stages go on, what rules I can't break seem to get weaker. I've felt strange for the last hour or so, actually, and for some reason I felt like you were at the location that I am supposed to be at. It sounds cryptic, I know, but that is not intentional. I've been trying to figure out what the glitcher has learned lately so I can better understand our position. I think I have missing logs, you see, as swordsbane's logs seem to refer to logs of mine that do not appear to exist. I think they are directly related to usurping the CAI. Yet even so, I seem to have resurfacing memories the more logs I find. And you're in what is supposed to be a CAI simulation, right?"
"Right."
>"Please describe it."
Alison goes ahead and describes, in some detail, what she knows about the first two areas.
>"That isn't right. That first one just sounds like a standard stage obstacle. The second one has happened in stages before when there are effectively only two or three sides entering one of the final stages, and there are virtually no independant contestants. How did you even enter this supposed CAI fight?"
>>
No. 476977 ID: ec6d4c

>this isn't right
Maybe not, but we have evidence it's happened before! This isn't the first loop where I've fought administration this way, and Sevener has logs of the rules. She knew the rules in the first stage.

>how did this happen
Glitcher recovered, somewhat. Apparently, in most loops, he never gives anyone his ghost, so he doesn't stick around after scanning a note, regaining his memories and committing suicide. But this time, he had a chance to calm down, and we got through to him. He can still do his thing even as a ghost- and he made us a button to change stage types.

So we went to a system zone, to try and get access to Arbiter's and hopefully your logs. When we got there, we used the button to change the stage type. Although not before a bunch of system reinforcements showed up.

Although, the administration apparently had switches waiting for us that would do the same thing.

Also, if it helps: we're in the system bracket <I forget the number> and facing reinforcements from brackets 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 10, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18. We don't know if that includes all their forces, but we know it includes at least some of the admins. That means Corruptor's, the Council's, Obliterators, Swordane's and Alison / Bone's system brackets are either empty or with weakened defenses if you want to take action against them. Theoretically, even we lose this fight, you could prevent some of the admins from getting back to their rooms.

>feeling strange
We should tell him we figured out his Corrupted all become one person- they're a collective, like the shopkeep. We only got one ghost from the two we killed, and he has the memories of both.

(We're not judging or condemning this, we're just trying to help him understand himself, because hopefully that helps!)
>>
No. 476979 ID: 886a4d

Our Admin, Sevener has been using us to test CAI fights for the last several hundred loops. We're not sure how.

Answering the question without truly telling the truth is fun!
>>
No. 476984 ID: c6ec33

Don't forget to mention the fact that we chose the mode out of 3 possible:

Basic
Advanced
Sudden Death

There's a chance that the real CAI fight would use "Sudden Death".
>>
No. 476987 ID: ec6d4c

Should we warn him about Savior, while we're here? We don't really understand what the root of the quarrel is, but I still think our best way out of this might be if we can find a way to get all three of the special contestants cooperating. That means either getting Savior to not attack Corruptor, or convincing Corruptor not to destroy him when he does (spare, capture, or absorb, I guess).

Honestly, we picked up a lot of info from Glitcher, and it might be faster if he's willing to talk to Corruptor himself.

...wait, did Glitcher ask that we not tell Corruptor about him? I can't remember? If not, I think honesty is the best plan. If he did ask, we use evasive honesty. Be as honest as we can without revealing that Glitcher is still actively aiding us (ie, we used a button, but don't say when we got it- let him assume we took it from Glitcher's workshop).
>>
No. 476996 ID: 886a4d

I think Glitcher asked to remain hidden for now.
>>
No. 476998 ID: c4e5c2
File 135490926654.png - (14.90KB , 700x700 , CAI7-34(3).png )
476998

Alison did remember to explain the difficulty level option, but corruptor did not appear to find that out of the ordinary. She will be safe and attempt to hide glitcher still.

"Seven has been testing CAI fights on us. Oh! And more than half of the remaining brackets are practically emptied, if you want to invade some. I also think that your devoted corruptees are a collective like the shopkeep."
>"That isn't too surprising, I began to suspect as much... and yes, I do want to invade! Or rather, I am sure that if I pass this on to my houses, then they would like to. Things aren't much better with them, but I will spare you the details unless you want to know. I would invite you back, but the other houses speak badly of you, for all the wrong reasons, and you may be better off where you are now than in my unwelcoming sanctuary. But Sevener brought you to a CAI fight? Nevermind how, she must have done it incorrectly. I am certain that these are just random stage obstacles, not a CAI fight! This is not what CAIs do."
"How do CAI's fight, then?"
>"According to a book I found recently, they are given specific scenarios, often a point in real world history. It's survival of the better CAI group. The CAI's are injected into certain scenarios, often real world points in history, and are given similar objectives. The one who does better wins. It could be as simple as two thieves trying to steal more loot than the other, or it could be more nebulous objectives such as negotiating political deals. In effect, it's an isolated, built in environment for CAIs to do their real world job, and the one that shows themselves to be superior is the victor."
>>
No. 477002 ID: 886a4d

Oh thats rich. No wonder Sevener has never won against the CAI. She's been practicing the wrong thing! My guess is the CAI ruleset we're using isn't so much for the CAI fight but for the CAI to practice our type of fight since they've forgotten their own battle-royale. That or these are the elimination rounds to thin us down to something that a CAI fight can manage.
>>
No. 477003 ID: ec6d4c

>and yes, I do want to invade!
Just be careful, and don't go overboard. We need at least one of them alive- we discovered that if we actually manage to kill off the entire system, the next stage will dump everyone into one big bloodbath of a freeroam and get everyone killed. And judging from my logs, it didn't help the time you tried that.

>Not a real CAI battle
Well, that explains why Sevener hasn't been able to use the data she's collected the last 300 loops or so to overcome the CAI. It's not applicable!

>real CAI battle conditions
Oh gods, the whole friggen asteroid quest is actually a CAI battle! Nothing's real! It's Chee quest all over again...
...you know, by that definition, couldn't this all be a CAI battle of some kind?

>Also
...still thinking we should warn him that Savior is planning to come after him. Getting either of them killed off isn't ideal- understanding the special characters (or getting them cooperating) seems like it might be a big part of figuring everything out, or breaking the cycle.
>>
No. 477004 ID: 04b86a

>Glitcher and Sevener have been doing it wrong
Crap. In that case, I think the most important thing right now is that Corrupter knows the ruleset for our current stage! We can talk to him about other things later.
>>
No. 477009 ID: ec6d4c

>Corrupter knows the ruleset for our current stage!
Oh wait, that's a good point. If he remembers the castles battle being used in a previous loop, and if he remembers the rules and win condition, that would be a big help!
>>
No. 477011 ID: e3f578

Can we trust that that would be the exact scenario? The situation we're all in is supposedly the first and only attempt. That's describing the situation for normal CAI creation, correct? Like the three survivors (and their absorbed teams I hypothesize, ghosts can fight and stuff in this whole fight we're so anyone dead or absorbed probably contributes in other fight types just as much or more) would fight each other in the objective match? Or does that fight your describing result in three survivors? Or is it the three survivors vs. the CAI?

I mean, this is the first time a CAI merge has been attempted, unless that book was written within the entire scenario and kept through all the reboots, we shouldn't even HAVE that information or that book was written by the scientists who designed this merger experiment and implanted it inside. Not only that, but sometimes we're given information we cannot trust or made completely irrelevant, like with the cards and logs our pasts selves made. Mafia Alison betraying Hugruptor set up this how permanent betrayal thing in all the reboots by sending messages forward, and Sociopath Corruptor's actions at the end of the game makes Glitcher kill himself in all cycles. Trusting these messages and logs and even our old memories have always led to destruction. What makes the books different or any less dangerous?
Corruptor, just a message, whatever you end remembering, especially if you make it to the end, remember that it's fruitless. The memories that probably make you kill everybody at the end are not relevant at all, you can make the choice to follow your programmed instincts or not. Please, if you ever get a chance to send a message back, warn yourself about that. Warn yourself about trusting your instincts and memories.
>>
No. 477020 ID: c4e5c2
File 135491423282.png - (11.83KB , 700x700 , CAI7-34(4).png )
477020

"Couldn't this whole thing be one big CAI battle then?"
>".... it sure would be a broken one. I suppose it's still broken, no matter what.
"Also, the savior, I believe he is going to come after you. I hope you won't have to kill him, he might be necessary for... some reason?"
>"I'll keep it in mind and see how he goes about attacking me if he does."
"Also, you remember the castle as being something that has happened before? Do you remember the rules?"
>"... some, yes! I'll share what I know to help you here, and it'll help in the extremely unlikely chance it comes up later as well. But has the glitcher spoken to you?"
"Why would he?"
>"I don't know, but knowing you, I wouldn't imagine you wouldn't have at least tried to absorb him. You didn't say if you did or not when you told me about the events leading up to his death. I want to speak with him. Things haven't felt right without him, you or Arbiter. I messed up badly this cycle, and it's shaken my confidence."
"I think this cycle, when we figure out how, you should send a log about trusting your instincts and memories. These books don't sound like they belong, and sometimes we're given information that is either untrustworthy or irrelevant. I don't even know if we can trust our own memories."
>"That is true, I should take this with a grain of salt, but with that said, I'd like to see if I can get in contact with glitcher. If it's at all possible! Maybe I can direct his manipulation to get a proper cai emulation going so that we can break the cycle this time with the best of chances. So if it's at all possible, please direct him to me, or me to him, since I'm certain if it is remotely possible, it would be through you."
>>
No. 477025 ID: 04b86a

...You know, Glitcher never actually said we had to keep him a secret from everyone. Specifically, he said:
>He'll help as he can, but it would be best if the system and savior still thinks of him as dead.
So it should be alright to tell the Corruptor that we did absorb Glitcher, and that he's recovered from his suicidalness. The time he killed himself was actually the second time we absorbed him, in fact! Does the Corruptor really need to know that to try to summon him with ghost talk, though?
>>
No. 477032 ID: ec6d4c

...man, we're skirting really close to having to outright lie to Snakey, here. I feel really bad about it too, because he appears pretty earnest.

>get in contact with Glitcher
...I'll do what I can. If there's a way I can get him to contact you, I will. (That's as honest as we can be. It implies that we can without coming out and saying it. Long term though, I like this plan. Getting the specials cooperating is a powerful option).

I really think we should give the warning about not killing off the whole system, though. That leads to bad things.

>I messed up badly this cycle
I don't know how much of what happened was your fault, or anyone's, really. Circumstances, and even people, are a little different in every loop, and it's hard to say what causes what. Don't dwell on what mistakes we might have made in the past- focus on the future. We will find a way to fix all of this.

>>477025
If that's true, Corruptor has already figured out we probably adsorbed Glitcher. So he already doesn't think of him as dead, and in fact, is actively seeking him out. Horse is out of the barn. (It's just hard to check exactly what he told us regarding him and Corruptor, given the walls of text he threw at us. :V)

Corruptor should be able to attempt to ghost talk Glitcher, actually, via recursion (Corruptor has Arbiter's ghost, who has Alison's, who has Glitcher's). And he might as well try it, before the system takes away ghost talk like Shopkeep was threatening. Only problem is if Glitcher doesn't want to see him, for reasons.
>>
No. 477040 ID: 4a328b

We gave the Corrupter an invitation to our house in the past, didn't we? That offer's still open. I wonder if we can sleep in this faux CAI fight zone?
>>
No. 477062 ID: c4e5c2
File 135492473287.png - (15.56KB , 700x700 , CAI7-34(5).png )
477062

"You have my ghost, so if I had the glitcher's, couldn't you have talked to him?"
>"Yes, but only if he wanted to, and if you were good with him, then you could convince him to... well, I'm obviously desperate here. I'll try again on my own."
Alison can't remember the glitcher saying that revealing him to the corruptor would be bad, and it was likely up to Alison's discretion. And right now, she thinks that those 2 could stand to be reunited.
"I think he has recovered from his suicidalness. He was absorbed, yes, but he might be sensitive. Oh, and don't kill the whole system! If that happens, then we all just get dumped in a nasty freeroam section. And you know, that invitation to come to my house still stands."
>"Oh, yes... I think I'll take that invitation, Snake Queen! I'm glad to hear about the glitcher. I'll share the rules I know without wasting more time."
"Thank you. And I'm certain we all mess up a cycle badly now and then, me included. With everyone's help, though, I will find a way out of these cycles."
>"I hope so. But are you still willing to fight sevener like that, since it isn't what you thought it was? If glitcher and I work together, we might find a way to pull you and your team alone out and cheat the whole fight."

Wiki updated: http://tgchan.org/wiki/Unnatural_Selection_Stats#Castle_Rounds[/spoiler]
>>
No. 477063 ID: f2c20c

>>477020
Ask him exactly how he messed up this cycle. From what we've gathered from the paper notes and system logs, doesn't he almost always try to kill us because of his paper note? If he's just regretting that, he shouldn't. It's just a lingering trap set by a cycle that had an Alison and Corruptor that couldn't work together due to the ever-varying personalities over the cycles. I'm sure we can work things out this time. We have to, if we're going to save everyone.

Ask which book exactly told him about the way CAI Fights work. The way he described it does actually sound like a more believable test than this series of games we're playing. It's possible that Sevener and Glitcher were both misled as to what a CAI Fight actually is- I mean, maybe this little sequence of games is a decoy for contestants or system members trying to practice, made to APPEAR to be a CAI Fight routine when it actually isn't. That along with Corruptor's deleted logs leads me to the conclusion that the CAI is directly interfering with the simulation to make it harder for the players to prepare for beating it. A method of self-preservation that goes counter to its original purpose! The CAI has essentially gone rogue.

Tell him that we heard he creates Devotees almost unconsciously and if it's possible for him to figure out how to stop his own abilities from activating- practice his control- it would go a long way to making us feel more comfortable about his Corruption-themed stuff. Also I can't help but wonder if that feeling that he's supposed to be where we are is part of his original purpose? We don't even know what he was put in the simulation to do, so we don't know if he should follow his original purpose or defy it.

(it's worth noting that we were told Corruptor and Glitcher working together is a bad thing. However, we were told that by Savior, iirc, who isn't exactly an impartial source)

Finally, I can't help but want to ask Corruptor if he knows why Alison winds up being in the middle of all this. Is there anything special about her, or is it just a case of her having the capability and opportunity? A case of the right person in the right place?
>>
No. 477065 ID: ec6d4c

So we're going to trust the Corruptor then? Cool. I think we're better off trying to mend bridges and reform any darkness in him than trying to hold him at arm's length or fearing he's been up to something. Poor Snake-dude is just tragically alone and misunderstood!

>it's worth noting that we were told by Savior that Corruptor and Glitcher working together is a bad thing
Actually, not bad, per se. He said that
>The two of them together are extremely dangerous
Dangerous for whom, and in what way, is the significant factor.

>Glitcher
Yeah, sorry for being evasive with my answers. I wasn't sure he was ready.

>cheating
Well, the problem with just running, and leaving things as they are, is that the administration openly declared war on us. Sevener wanted us to attack, and was prepared for that. If things stay as they are, we escaped the trap, but we're at a disadvantage overall. We also miss a chance at more logs.

Winning if possible, drastically reduces the threat the system presents, gets us logs access again, and rezes our dead. Odds of actually winning are low, though.

Running might also deprive the others of their chance to attack the system brackets while they're weak!

Best option is if we can pull our people out, but leave Sevener's side trapped in a battle they can't complete. :V

...best plan I think is to get Corruptor and Glitcher talking, and working on the problem, see what are options are. If it works, and what would happen if we pull out. In the meantime, we continue with the castle battle, at least buying time for Corruption to attack the system. Best case we win, worst case, we ask to be pulled out.
>>
No. 477067 ID: 8ad5de

Because everything I was going to say has already been said, I'm just going to inject the most important thing of all.

Initiate Ghost-Hug Procedures.
>>
No. 477068 ID: ec6d4c

>>477067
Hells yes. Ghost-snake on sad-snake hugs are mandatory.
>>
No. 477069 ID: 04b86a

I think we should drop out. Sevener probably already built a large number of golems and siege canons by having people combine their bonuses while they don't cost any minerals, which puts us at a severe disadvantage.
>>
No. 477072 ID: f2c20c

>>477062
According to the information he just gave us about the castle stage, there's another event after it, because the castle stage is there to thin the population. Does he have no information about the next one? Or is the entire purpose of these games to kill as many players as possible? If it's the latter then we're playing into the CAI's hands by continuing.

It's also possible that these games are merely a prelude to the REAL CAI Fight, since it would be completely silly for thousands of AIs to attempt real life missions. Missions like that sound more suited to smaller squads. If this is just the buildup to the real challenge then we should stick with it.

Also, it is like I expected- castles give the benefit of respawning ghosts. Also of note is that because of the intruder waves, drawing out the fight results in both teams taking losses, BUT whoever focuses less on defense stands to take more losses from Intruders. I think the most important thing to do is not taking over castles or setting up traps, but simply killing more of the other team's living members than they do. That weakens the enemy's capability to keep their defenses up, and hastens the ending conditions.

Sevener is in fact using the correct strategy by frontloading her troops, but only if she doesn't plan on rushing us with a wave of living members. If she sends mostly ghosts our way then she'll be playing it smart. It also looks like the capital castle is worthless for traps because Razing it at all times is the best way to get resources. You would probably want to defend it with ghosts while Razing it since Intruder waves can spawn and attack that castle... I'm not sure if we would want to focus on traps like we have been doing, and get some on the light trails too, or start making siege cannons and golems to go on the offensive. It's hard to say if we should make cannons/golems since we don't know how strong they are.

Maybe we should try making some device that allows us to launch a message to Sevener, telling her that this isn't a real CAI Fight and all we're accomplishing is racking up a bodycount?

ALSO of note is that if we cheat and pull out our forces, Corruptor won't be able to invade the undefended system brackets. Those brackets will have defenders again.
>>
No. 477109 ID: 886a4d

>>477072 Whichever side wins is revived completely. So thats not a worry.

As far as getting pulled out I'm going to say no to that. We need to get those logs more then ever.

As for now lets ask Corrupter if he is willing to share the logs he has gotten so far.

Then at the castle I suggest switching from traps to Golems and Seige weapons.
>>
No. 477111 ID: ec6d4c

>>477109
It occurs to me that Sevener's forces are likely putting everything they have into siege weapons, since they're going on an all out offense. Can we prepare specific countermeasures to mitigate or disable hostile siege weaponry?
>>
No. 477121 ID: f2c20c

>>477109
Well, if the winners are fully revived, then we lost like half our forces so far anyway. Pulling out would likely leave those dead folks dead, would it not? That's bad news for the coming war with Bones.
>>
No. 477124 ID: ec6d4c

>>477121
Well, that's the thing. We don't know what pulling out does! Theoretically it could go several ways:

1) All parties gets out, all the dead revive.
2) All parties gets out, the dead stay dead.
3) Alison's side escapes, Sevener's side is trapped and/or dies, our dead revive.
4) Alison's side escapes, Sevener's side is trapped and/or dies, our dead stay dead.

We need to know what a pull out does before we agree to it.

Note that in any case where the system gets out, it messes up Corruption attacking, and our ability to access Arbiter's logs. We need to at least buy time for an attack, and to attempt winning.
>>
No. 477139 ID: c4e5c2
File 135494849691.png - (14.01KB , 700x700 , CAI7-34(6).png )
477139

>Initiate Ghost-Hug Procedures.
Ghost-Hug Procedures have been initiated.

"We still have 15 turns in the preliminary. If you hurry, you may be able to talk to glitcher and find out more specifics, because I'm not certain yet. It sounds like there's more after the castle though. Do you know what that is?"
>"No idea, what you're doing just sounds like random stage events. Yes, I'll try to get into contact with Glitcher, if you could help!"
"Would you also be willing to share your logs?"
>"... yes. I'll share them with you once you get out of this, whichever way you choose."
"Also, it seems like you make devotees subconsciously. If you could learn how to control that, I think it would be for the best. How do you think you messed up this cycle anyways?"
>"I tried to kill you! That was a terrible mistake. And I'll try to figure out how to control myself, but I do not even know what I'm capable of let alone getting a proper handle on it."
"Don't worry. Thank you, corruptor."
>"Thank you, and goodbye for just a moment."
>>
No. 477140 ID: c4e5c2
File 135494850580.png - (17.98KB , 700x700 , CAI7-37.png )
477140

>Can we prepare specific countermeasures to mitigate or disable hostile siege weaponry?
Alison switches up things by making cannons and golems. Cannons can be placed in castles and pointed outwards to defend against other cannons.

>Get a message to sevener
Alison's only idea on how to do this is sacrifice a number of architects to make a massive billboard on one of the front castles saying the message.

It doesn't take too long for Glitcher and Corruptor to have a successful chat while a couple turns roll by, and Corruptor summons her again. She keeps working at a cannon while chatting with him.

He says that with glitcher's help, he's confident Alison and her team can be pulled out, but in order for his houses to invade, and Alison to get the logs she's after, a bit of time will have to be bought. Even if Sevener is going at a dangerously fast pace, it would still take several turns to take over a light trail and even more turns to take over a castle. If Alison leaves even just 10 individuals on her side, then that will be enough to keep sevener busy for 40 turns at least given the scale of this. She'll still have to kill those 10 to move on. Most likely 50 to 60 turns or more are needed plus the 13 remaining turns in the preliminary phase, given how much Alison has trapped and defended her castles.

Either way, it should be enough for corruptor to invade empty brackets, and for Alison to get back, get the logs, and get out before Sevener has a chance to eliminate what tiny bit of Alison's bunch she leaves behind.
>>
No. 477142 ID: 886a4d

I still want to win this. However what we can do is have Arbiter pull out now and head to the administrator zone and get those records while we stay behind. Our administration will be empty as there are no one to call the judges at all even if the other administrators were smart and left behind a judge lord.
>>
No. 477146 ID: ec6d4c

>I tried to kill you! That was a terrible mistake.
Well, yes. A little. We understand though- those notes are trouble, and we're not proud of everything we think some of our alternate-past selves did.

>share logs
We actually have a bunch of info we learned while we were away to share with him, hopefully Glitcher and our house peeps can help get him up to speed.

>Leave a skeleton crew to stall Sevener in the pseudo CAI fight.
I don't suppose we can use the ghosts for that? After all, they're going to be dead even if we pull them out, right? Or would our side automatically lose if there are no living people left? (That kind of makes sense).

Leaving a force to die is kind of a dick move, but if we use people who were going to retire to the dream house in future stages anyways, it doesn't make much difference. They have to be volunteers, though.

>I still want to win this.
Hmmm. It would be nice if we could. Can we, though? Sevener has superior numbers. All she has to do is Zerg rush us with ghosts while her living people manufacture and roll anti-siege to the front, while razing unneeded defenses for parts. I'm not sure we can win a war of attrition, here!

Although, if we do make it through this stage, Sevener's advantage is gone, since Glitcher and Corruptor can spoil rulesets for us.
>>
No. 477147 ID: 886a4d

First she has to breach the walls, then get by the traps. Then we just pull out to the next castle. All the while sending ghost warriors and golems at her. If she spends time razing castles we can go around her and start taking her own lands. This is apparently a battle of attrition and as long as we play smart I think we can win it.
>>
No. 477150 ID: 04b86a

>>477140
I'm suddenly having second thoughts due to being unsure about the two thousand or so ghosts we already have. I don't think we have all of them in our absorption chain yet, so if they aren't resurrected when they're pulled the unabsorbed will be perma-dead.

>>477142
On the other hand, I agree that we can win this. Especially if the Corruptor and Glitcher help us.

...I know the other houses hate us, but can the Corruptor and Glitcher send them here to help? Because if they can and the house lords agree, then I know longer merely "think" we can win this.
>>
No. 477151 ID: f2c20c

>>477140
Shit yes, that sounds awesome. Let's just ask for 10 volunteers to give their lives to the cause. I don't think we'll have any issues with that. He didn't mention if our dead players would be revived, but... I dunno, sacrificing half our forces might be worth it, considering Sevener will have a bigger advantage the more our forces are reduced. Also, considering this is a fake CAI Fight, the revival thing might not even happen once one side wins.

Plus, I don't think there is any way for us to prepare for the CAI Fight if what Corruptor says is true. If it's a real-life scenario, then to prepare what we need to do is study real life. Study what people are like in the real world, how they handle engagements, what their culture is... HISTORY! The Historian really is important.
>>
No. 477152 ID: ec6d4c

>>477147
But the victory condition isn't about seizing land. It's about getting a certain percentage of troops killed. If Sevener front-loads with cannons and ghosts, I don't see how we could make her burn warm bodies faster than us.

>I don't think we have all of them in our absorption chain yet
Don't worry about this. It's been standard operating procedure for a while to get the ghost of every new recruit via a persistence duel. The only person outside the chain are Scholar (because enforcers don't have ghosts) and maybe Chomper, if invincible got in the way.
>>
No. 477153 ID: 886a4d

The thing about seizing castles and lines is that they enable us to mitigate what we have to do to fight. Golems, cannons and traps mean we don't have to potentially lose people battling. The more we have the less we will lose.
>>
No. 477155 ID: c4e5c2
File 135495156902.png - (15.75KB , 700x700 , CAI7-38.png )
477155

Alison is still making a decision, but asks corruptor if people that died here will be resurrected if they are brought out. The answer is yes, so almost no deaths would be had. Except for the 10 or so volunteers, those individuals would have to die, but they will simply retire at Alison's house. It is still not permanent, real death. It does not have to be 10, either, he just recommends more than, say, 1, in case sevener gets a particularly amazing cannon shot.

Corruptor says Glitcher can also just try to reinitiate the cai fight on a whole and try to get it right this time, bypassing the stage events.
>>
No. 477156 ID: 886a4d

>>477155
Lets do that then. We do want to experiance a CAI fight properly.

Alright heres the plan.

Arbiter pulls out now and goes to the admin zone to get those logs. We continue to fight while Glitcher works on making this a proper CAI fight. We play a battle of attrition to thin down her numbers as much as possible and once Glitcher is done we hit the switch to give Sevener a nasty little shock.
>>
No. 477157 ID: f2c20c

If we can bypass the events that would be good. It would also throw Sevener for a loop; not having a reduced force would be weird for her, I think. We're better at handling large numbers of troops, surely.

It would also give us the benefit of taking Sevener out of the equation entirely. She has a vendetta against us, and if we don't eliminate her now she will cause problems for us later, surely.
>>
No. 477158 ID: 04b86a

>>477155
I have half a mind to ask Glitcher to pull out a large chunk of the enemy forces. Say, all of the enforcers. Or maybe even everyone except Sevener.

Turning this into a proper CAI fight sim sounds good, though. Unless Glitcher can make it more like the CAIlympics? You know, since it'd be a shame to let all of those sports boons go to waste...
>>
No. 477159 ID: ec6d4c

>just try to reinitiate the cai fight on a whole and try to get it right this time
...the problem with doing this is the system forces here outnumber ours! Any kind of real CAI battle has to e weighted to give the bigger side a significant advantage.

I think the best plan is to evac now, and confound Sevener while we strategically seize system zones and get Arbiter's logs. Then, later, we confront Sevener again, and hit her with a reignited CAI-fight before she can summon massive reinforcements.
>>
No. 477170 ID: f2c20c

>>477159
Well, we COULD let Sevener throw her forces against our castle walls for a little while, making sure to keep our forces out of harm's way, then trigger whatever Glitcher comes up with to skip to the end. Sevener's forces would be depleted but not ours.
>>
No. 477202 ID: d4ad1a

>>477170
This. Pick them off at our leisure without putting ourselves at risk, then, when the time is right, initiate a proper CAI fight. Assuming that we can bring our entire team along with us for that. Otherwise, pull everyone out except us and initiate the CAI fight.
>>
No. 477210 ID: ec6d4c

>>477170
...assuming reigniting the CAI fight wouldn't revive all the ghosts exactly the same way pulling them out would.
>>
No. 477255 ID: c4e5c2
File 135499794536.png - (49.62KB , 700x700 , CAI7-38(2).png )
477255

Alison asks if it wouldn't be possible to take out a chunk of enemy forces, once corruptor and glitcher end up getting a ghost conference party going.

Glitcher says it's much easier with consent, sort of like a ghost, but it might be possible, with unknown ramifications. Plus, they'd be out. Alison notes that she just wanted to know about the possibility, but doesn't think that she'll do that.

After some discussion, Arbiter and, for safety's sake, King, both Chompers, and about 10 others that are currently ghosts in the CAI but otherwise living outside of it will cut out to get his logs.

>Any kind of real CAI battle has to be weighted to give the bigger side a significant advantage.
Corruptor says Alison would think so, but actually, it focuses more on quality of quantity, usually.

>Can the glitcher/corruptor combination send corruptor's houses in as reinforcements?
This might be possible as well, but corruptor does not appear keen on this idea. They are already almost independent as is, and may not feel well about going in to assist Alison.

Lastly, Glitcher can skip this castle event at anytime, so Alison will see if she can't wittle down some of sevener's forces some before skipping to what should be an authentic simulation. Alison asks if she can't choose the sort of simulation it is, such as say, an olympic matchup in which everyone plays against each other.

Corruptor says that for all he knows, there is something like that, but he does not think he has control over that much, not without regaining some more memories. Either way, Glitcher and Corruptor will both ready to perform their skip at any time.
>>
No. 477256 ID: c4e5c2
File 135499795794.png - (17.34KB , 700x700 , CAI7-46.png )
477256

So Alison doesn't do anything radical yet, and keeps on building cannons and golems while Arbiter is pulled out to get logs. Engineer discovers a method to make a specialized trap spring golem, which is used to withstand traps and break them. However, since Alison is playing almost all defensive, this discovery will go wasted.

At turn 46, Sevener starts getting on the move, Scanner reports from her telescope. It looks like she was hiding her construction so that Alison wouldn't find out. Scanner performs a quick count. Sevener is doing this offensively as expected, but about half of her forces are hanging back. Scanner suspects that she is sending all of her ghosts, somewhere around 2,200, while keeping the her currently living, more effective forces on the defensive.

She sees around 2,000 golems and 700 cannons being mobilized. Alison got a late start, but she has far more architectural talent than the system, and so by the end of 50 turns she will not be terribly behind with 1,706 golems and 568 cannons.

Alison also has 43,199 traps across her territory. By this point, entering a castle seems to be the metaphorical equivalent of jumping in lava. Nevertheless, unless Sevener starts sending her living people, she won't lose forces.
>>
No. 477262 ID: ec6d4c

>>477256
Oh, cool. Sevener is playing exactly as I thought she would.

Let's waste Sevener's time, while our allies outside seize their objectives (logs, system zones). We'll man the front lines with ghosts, and have the living fall back.

After Severner starts to grind her way through our trapped castes and ghosts, and we've bought enough time, we'll have Corruptor and Glitcher cheat.
>>
No. 477271 ID: 04b86a

>unless Sevener starts sending her living people, she won't lose forces
That's true... I guess we should send our ghosts into the contested areas and focus on weakening her siege, then. We get back over a fifth of them every turn, so that should be safe to do.

>They are already almost independent as is, and may not feel well about going in to assist Alison.
What about Corruptor's own house? They're loyal to him and Arbiter, so they should be willing to help.
>>
No. 477286 ID: f2c20c

>>477256
Well, if she only sends ghosts and golems, we can assault one of her castles all-out with our cannons and golems and ghosts to see if we can take out some of the forces in it, once her initial resources are spent. A counterattack against less effective defenses...

We could also just remain on the defensive and wait for the Intruder waves to wear her forces down. We can weather their attacks much more efficiently than she can.

I think I favor staying on the defensive for now, and making some trap-spring golems. Spend like 20 turns producing them. When she sends out her forces, see if we can throw our ghosts at them to take out their cannons. Like, order them to just focus on attacking the cannons.
>>
No. 477287 ID: f2c20c

>>477271
He's talking about his own house.
>>
No. 477356 ID: 886a4d

Sending our ghosts to meet theres in the middle is a great tactic to draw their living forces out.
>>
No. 477908 ID: c4e5c2
File 135527304682.png - (17.89KB , 700x700 , CAI7-47.png )
477908

>They are already almost independent as is, and may not feel well about going in to assist Alison.
>What about Corruptor's own house? They're loyal to him and Arbiter, so they should be willing to help.
That is the case, and Corruptor can send his own, it just won't be overwhelming numbers as would be the case if bones, the council, swordsbane and obliterator were all in as well.

>Make spring trap golems
Alison will make a small amount, however, she only has 3 turns until her available production rate plummets.

Since Alison receives a 10th of her ghosts every turn, she will send a 10th each time to wittle down the ghosts.

As soon as the 50th turn comes, everyone rushes in. Mathematician and Engineer are ready to start jotting down losses and how much a fractional force can do against larger foes.

The answer is not very, but while Alison loses about 200 ghosts, they will all come back next round, which cannot be said for about 30 golems and 25 cannons on Sevener's side. The fight only lasts 1 turn.

It looks as though Sevener is now splitting her force up into two parts, going for castla A and B, the frontmost pair. Due to those being the least priority of castles, Alison only has around 500 total ghosts, golems and cannons protecting each of them, not including the massive amount of traps inside. Corruptor says that if allied troops get to a friendly castle at the same time as an enemy, they will still have time to barricade themselves inside, so Alison will be able to send in reinforcements if she wishes.

Between watching the progress and talking to corruptor, glitcher and arbiter, it is getting difficult for Alison to keep track of all the numbers.
>>
No. 477912 ID: f2c20c

>>477908
Focus on the fight.

Don't reinforce the castles. Let our traps handle them. Immediately send to that center tile our ghosts and any cannons and golems available in the two castles that aren't being attacked. Next turn send them ALL to one enemy castle. One of the rear ones. We attack while Sevener's ghosts are busy in one big wave, to kill whoever we can.
>>
No. 477932 ID: ec6d4c

Tell Glitcher and Arbiter to be ready when you call, and to inform you when Arbiter's keycard run and/or the other Lord's system zone attacks are successful. In the meantime, concentrate on managing the battle.

Our current objective is to stall, buying our rebel player allies the time they need. Conserve live players, burn ghosts and traps as necessary. Try and whittle down Sevener's forces, if she ever commits anything living.
>>
No. 477966 ID: d4ad1a

>>477912
Heh, you sneaky scoundrel. I like it.
>>
No. 477969 ID: 04b86a

>>477908
>Alison receives a 10th of her ghosts every turn
Correction, we receive a 10th of our total forces' worth of ghosts every turn, which since we won a bit over 50% of the fights last round comes out to a bit over two 10ths of our ghosts, which means we could have sent about 400 last turn.

>>477912
Heh, I like this plan. I'm not so sure we should send all of the canons and golems in those two castles, but aside from that nitpick the plan looks good.
>>
No. 477971 ID: ec6d4c

>>477969
That's a good point. If we commit all our cannons to a counteroffensive, then Sevener can pound our forces at range with impunity for the rest of the battle.
>>
No. 477982 ID: f2c20c

>>477971
There won't be a rest of the battle. We're skipping to the end as soon as we kill some of Sevener's living forces.
>>
No. 477989 ID: ec6d4c

>>477982
There's somewhat of a rest of the battle. We need to stall long enough for Corruptions' forces to hit the system brackets, and for Arbiter to use his keycard.
>>
No. 477996 ID: 04b86a

>>477982
My concern is mostly how quickly they could get though those two castles with only traps as defenses. I suppose we should have enough traps there that it won't make too much difference, though, so sending all of them is probably best.

>>477989
We're not stalling for the Corruptor anymore, we're trying to eliminate some of Sevener's living forces while losing as few of our own as possible so they'll be weaker when we reinitiate the CAI fight.
>>
No. 478008 ID: 0b7fa2

Well just keep rough estimates then. You could start pushing, then pulling back a little. The steady progression of your forces could push them back enough to switch the roles for offense in our favor, depending on if we get enough of a winning ratio to continue. Or we could just lean back and draw it out like an anaconda, it's preference.
>>
No. 478013 ID: 886a4d

If they split up their offensive now is a perfect time to hit one side with everything we can. We want to force Sevener to be reduced to her living and what she can build up now. Let them spend a turn losing stuff to the defence while we gather people then hit Castle A with everything.
>>
No. 478144 ID: c4e5c2
File 135533957159.png - (16.76KB , 700x700 , CAI7-52.png )
478144

Corruptor is asked for advice, and he thinks that Alison's ridiculous amount of traps will slow Sevener down significantly. It will still fall, but Sevener will have to balance her speed in taking over the castle. Go too fast and she'll take immense losses, but the only way she won't take many losses at all is to take many turns.

So Alison gets her series of hand signalers to give orders. Out of the two rear castles, she gets 1/3 to stay, and the other 2/3 to move on to the centermost tile in preparation to make an attack.

Sevener's forces do not back out of attacking Alison's two front castles, and they begin their siege. It appears that they are taking it cautiously to minimize total losses, with the more expendable ghosts being at the forefront for now.
>>
No. 478145 ID: c4e5c2
File 135533963629.png - (28.30KB , 1207x688 , CAI7-53.png )
478145

Alison gets her middle-tile army to move forward to a single castle at the back. When she moves them, sevener reinforces that castle as she can. It is only with her living members, so Alison will get a chance to wittle down their numbers. Alison's attacking numbers are about on par with sevener's defenders, although the living individuals are stronger than Alison's ghosts.

Arbiter has successfully gotten the logs, and is leaving soon. Corruptor says that his houses are making good progress, as the ones with double move are meeting almost no resistance with weaker judges and supervisors and other critical, but small in number, system task forces. It is almost certainly in the clear, as even the other Houses do not wipe out the ones they are attacking during the castle stage, it isn't as though the proper CAI fight will instantly resolve. Corruptor asks if Alison would like to move on after her current attack on Sevener's living forces is finished, as by the time it does, sevener will certainly be close to being able to attack Alison's own living forces. He is also not certain that having more living members will be advantageous, as often the cai fights are about quality more than quantity, but there may be an exception that eludes him.
>>
No. 478149 ID: 4a328b

Yes, that sounds like a good plan.
>>
No. 478161 ID: e3f578

>>478145
>quality rather than quantity
Still weirds me out that not once has someone won against the CAI then
move on
>>
No. 478162 ID: ec6d4c

>Arbiter has successfully gotten the logs
I hope someone's on hand to calm him down if he freaks out. Remember, we are not always the same people, and he shouldn't judge himself or expect to be judged for what other versions of himself might have said or done. Same goes for the Corruptor. Or anyone else. We're not bound by the past- we're who we chose to be- not who we were.

>move on to a (hopefully) real CAI-type fight after done killing these living Sevener forces
Yeah, sounds like a plan. Thank you, Corruptor. Hopefully this goes well.
>>
No. 478177 ID: 04b86a

>quality more than quantity
Well, yes, but the idea is that the dead ones will be of diminished capacity like they are now, so having fewer living people might reduce their quality as a group. I think that makes sense, at least. It's just an extra advantage that we can afford to take the time to grab.

While we're doing this, though, what exactly do Arbiter's logs say?
>>
No. 478222 ID: f2c20c

>>478145
Yep, once we're done with this initial attack, we should move into the final CAI Fight.
>>
No. 478274 ID: c4e5c2
File 135536400202.png - (13.10KB , 700x700 , CAI7-57.png )
478274

>While we're doing this, though, what exactly do Arbiter's logs say?
Arbiter is currently scrambling to write all of them down so he has a copy. They aren't pretty, not as though they usually are. He says Alison will definitely want to see them, of course, but she should worry about one thing at a time.

So Alison does. The attack goes about as well as can be expected, while Alison's forces are more or less getting wittled away rapidly, Sevener's own living forces are not without their own losses. It takes a few turns of running in for both sides, and it looks like both battles are wrapping up.

She does remind Arbiter that everyone's done things their current selves have regretted in other cycles, but it seems that sometimes, everyone could seem like completely different people based on the short sentences the logs give.

Arbiter knows, and he is alright, but some things still hurt even if he knows it would in advance. All the same, he insists again that Alison focus.
>>
No. 478275 ID: c4e5c2
File 135536410946.png - (26.54KB , 700x700 , CAI7-58.png )
478275

The word is given after the last turn, and everyone is swept away in a process that is disconcertingly similar to death.

Nevertheless, Alison feels another voting time coming along.

CAI Simulation Initiated: 3 Scenario's available.
A - Belenosian Homeworld, B.W. 9,341 (Historical accuracy: High)
B - Summoner's Island (Historical accuracy: Absolutely none, Pomi mythology.)
C - Neumono Homeworld, Approx. B.W. 300 (Historical accuracy: Questionable)


Alison recalls the historian mentioning that B.W. is before the first warpdrive, when was when the calender was reset to year 0. Therefore, these simulations appear to take place before warpdrive.

It also does not particularly help that there is no indication of what each simulation entails, but Alison is more or less getting used to working blindly.
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No. 478276 ID: 886a4d

Well thats not ominois at all. I think we should go as realistically as possible. A.
>>
No. 478278 ID: 4a328b

B!
>>
No. 478279 ID: 35037c

Ooooo let's do the neumono homeworld.
>>
No. 478280 ID: beeca1

We already know what the neumono homeworld is like and the Pomi homeworld is inaccurate, let's go with belenosians.
>>
No. 478281 ID: 04b86a

>>478275
>disconcertingly similar to death
Well gee, isn't that pleasant.

>Scenarios
We should probably have the Corruptor bring the Historian into the party line and ask which of these he's probably the most familiar with, but if we can't get him before we make the choice the historically accurate one is probably the safest bet.
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No. 478286 ID: ec6d4c

>Alison is more or less getting used to working blindly
Actually, by that logic, C is the best choice. We have access to a limited amount of out of character knowledge about conditions on the neumono homeworld. We know nothing about the others.

Also, neumono seem to have some connection to what's going on here. Alison should be most interested in them.

>Belenosian
Huh, you know, Arbiter could pass as one, except his horns go to the side instead of back.
>>
No. 478287 ID: f2c20c

>>478275
I'm going to guess that the setting will limit what abilities we have. A medieval setting will likely limit us to melee attacks unless we have something that makes sense for a ranged attack, like a bow and arrow or throwing daggers, that sort of thing. On the other hand maybe we'll be given equipment for that? On the other other hand, I expect that those without matching weapon types will not be able to use them as well.

I think we should ask Historian if he's familiar with any of these settings or dates. If not, let's go with B since it matches our abilities closely. It's the only one where we are likely to be able to make use of prehensile hair and acid spit!
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No. 478292 ID: d4ad1a

C. Let's work with what we know.
>>
No. 478316 ID: 00c52e

C
>>
No. 478357 ID: a5478c

A
>>
No. 478695 ID: ad199c

A

Might as well go for the real scenario.
>>
No. 478708 ID: c4e5c2
File 135550670194.png - (14.65KB , 700x700 , CAI7-59.png )
478708

Belenosian Homeworld simulation has been chosen. Alison notes that Arbiter could pass as one of those pretty easily if not for the horns.
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