Chancellor’s Challenge
In the long months since announcing their candidacy the nominees have sought to lay the groundwork for their rise to power. Now they are summoned to the Chancellor’s offices and find themselves in the company of the Chancellor, a high ranking Imperial Officer, and a cowled figure in black sporting the emblem of the Spacing Guild.
“Ah, greetings… I shall get right to the point. In all the recent turmoil I’ve barely been able to keep up on my duties, and now a new problem has emerged. The Guild has reported numerous pirate attacks and something must be done about it, but the Emperor’s own forces are otherwise occupied and frankly I do not have the time. I think that if you deal with this problem it can only boost your statures in the eyes of the Landsdraad, and as these matters normally are the responsibility of the Chancellor I can offer hefty rewards for success.”
Pursing his lips he regards the Guild representative. “Three pirate bands in particular have come to our attention as extremely aggressive, but I do not know who they are. The Guild knows but their neutrality prevents them from disclosing details, as these pirates have not attacked them. I have been able to determine that these pirates are known to you, or some of you. I want their names, I want their locations, and I want them destroyed. The Landsdraad will dispense one billion solaris to each of you for each pirate faction named, for each one of their bases you locate, and for each base that is captured. Complete all of these tasks and you will each receive an additional four billion solaris. Should you accept this challenge, I will immediately authorize you two billion solaris to cover your initial expenses. Lords and ladies, good hunting.” And with that he waves a hand in dismissal.
The officer exits with you. “I’m afraid I can task no forces or spies to assist you, on the Chancellor’s orders, only to confirm for him the validity of anything you uncover. For now I will refer to these pirates as Pirate Alpha, Pirate Beta, and Pirate Gamma. According to the Guild you already know their names. I will investigate and confirm anything the majority of you tell the chancellor and if true you’ll receive your compensation, same with any location you give, we’ll obviously know when you capture a base.
How this works: Each pirate factions has a name, players must submit it in title of a message, once a majority of players has done this the AG (beetnemesis) can post it just like a player vote, a consensus will have been reached among you as to the pirate’s name. Use this format in your title:
Pirate Name: Big Buccaneers
If the majority of you post that, and the AG submits it, and it is the name of a pirate faction, the faction (Alpha, Beta, or Gamma) will be formally renamed ‘Big Buccaneers’ and players will receive 1000 MS each.
Once a faction is named, you must find out it’s location, note that ‘Gather Intel on Player’ works on named NPC factions, such as these pirates, the same as players. Players must submit the location using the same method to receive the funds, using “Faction: Location” in the title:
Big Buccaneers: New Chicago
Once the location is found, they must be eradicated. There is no need to report the destruction, however players should keep in mind that multi-player assaults on the same location in a round can turn bloody, but can also weaken a defender for each successive assault. The locations must be seized… they are all planets that generate income.
In order to continue with the challenge, first players must decide to accept it, it is an Optional Crisis. This is done by a majority Player Vote to “Accept Chancellor’s Challenge” and when and if this occurs, each player will receive 2000 MS. It is anticipated that completing this ‘quest’ will take a few rounds.
Challenges
Uncover Pirate Alpha’s Name: Incomplete (1000 MS per Player)
Uncover Pirate Beta’s Name: Incomplete (1000 MS per Player)
Uncover Pirate Gamma’s Name: Incomplete (1000 MS per Player)
Discover Pirate Alpha’s Location: Incomplete (1000 MS per Player)
Discover Pirate Beta’s Location: Incomplete (1000 MS per Player)
Discover Pirate Gamma’s Location: Incomplete (1000 MS per Player)
Seize Pirate Alpha’s Location: Incomplete (1000 MS per Player)
Seize Pirate Beta’s Location: Incomplete (1000 MS per Player)
Seize Pirate Gamma’s Location: Incomplete (1000 MS per Player)
Complete all 9 tasks: Incomplete (4000 MS per Player)
Should a majority of players submit an incorrect name or location, 250 MS will be deducted from that reward. Perfect spelling is not necessary, either from the individual player’s or the Ag’s submission. The first named faction is Alpha, the second Beta and the third Gamma by default.
As mentioned, all three pirate faction names are known to you. This quest is offering some 105,000 MS amongst the players, and you may find it best to think of it as a pool, though when rewarded each player receives their payment it may be in the players best interest to devise an award the pay as a group (see Transfer and Transfer Funds Actions) for whoever actually provides the vital info or result. This strikes me as a good way to kill three birds with one stone, dispense the additional funds I wanted in play, practice some Intel abilities, and get people talking to each other. There is no time limit to the quest but money rather inflates as the game continues and 1000 MS isn’t as big a deal when your income is 15,000 MS around as opposed to 6000.
As extra icing on the cake, the pirate bases, while hardly luxury planets, are planets with incomes. Once this quest is complete, assuming it is accepted, additional quests may become available, hopefully I’d be able to present two or three options as opposed to just one by then, I rather like the idea of over-arching multi-round ‘Optional Crises’ to add onto the regular one per round. They also give people something to discuss between phase pauses for calculations, there is no night phase, players can keep posting in a thread until a new one opens, regardless of if a vote report has already come out.
Now as to how to go about this, I will say the pirates obviously have fairly decent Combat and Intrigue scores, raids being nothing but that, and it may take more than one attack to bring down their garrisons to seize the world. You may wish to coordinate your resources and offer a bounty amongst yourselves. Remember, a majority of players must submit the same name, you can obviously post more than one at once per player, same with location, though don’t waste time on random guesses. The trio of factions are known to players. That is all you need, once accepted they will become the only pirates factions conducting random attacks on the players and will keep up their current tempo until eradicated. If properly coordinated it should be possible to complete all the tasks by the end of Round 3… good luck.
In the long months since announcing their candidacy the nominees have sought to lay the groundwork for their rise to power. Now they are summoned to the Chancellor’s offices and find themselves in the company of the Chancellor, a high ranking Imperial Officer, and a cowled figure in black sporting the emblem of the Spacing Guild.
“Ah, greetings… I shall get right to the point. In all the recent turmoil I’ve barely been able to keep up on my duties, and now a new problem has emerged. The Guild has reported numerous pirate attacks and something must be done about it, but the Emperor’s own forces are otherwise occupied and frankly I do not have the time. I think that if you deal with this problem it can only boost your statures in the eyes of the Landsdraad, and as these matters normally are the responsibility of the Chancellor I can offer hefty rewards for success.”
Pursing his lips he regards the Guild representative. “Three pirate bands in particular have come to our attention as extremely aggressive, but I do not know who they are. The Guild knows but their neutrality prevents them from disclosing details, as these pirates have not attacked them. I have been able to determine that these pirates are known to you, or some of you. I want their names, I want their locations, and I want them destroyed. The Landsdraad will dispense one billion solaris to each of you for each pirate faction named, for each one of their bases you locate, and for each base that is captured. Complete all of these tasks and you will each receive an additional four billion solaris. Should you accept this challenge, I will immediately authorize you two billion solaris to cover your initial expenses. Lords and ladies, good hunting.” And with that he waves a hand in dismissal.
The officer exits with you. “I’m afraid I can task no forces or spies to assist you, on the Chancellor’s orders, only to confirm for him the validity of anything you uncover. For now I will refer to these pirates as Pirate Alpha, Pirate Beta, and Pirate Gamma. According to the Guild you already know their names. I will investigate and confirm anything the majority of you tell the chancellor and if true you’ll receive your compensation, same with any location you give, we’ll obviously know when you capture a base.
How this works: Each pirate factions has a name, players must submit it in title of a message, once a majority of players has done this the AG (beetnemesis) can post it just like a player vote, a consensus will have been reached among you as to the pirate’s name. Use this format in your title:
Pirate Name: Big Buccaneers
If the majority of you post that, and the AG submits it, and it is the name of a pirate faction, the faction (Alpha, Beta, or Gamma) will be formally renamed ‘Big Buccaneers’ and players will receive 1000 MS each.
Once a faction is named, you must find out it’s location, note that ‘Gather Intel on Player’ works on named NPC factions, such as these pirates, the same as players. Players must submit the location using the same method to receive the funds, using “Faction: Location” in the title:
Big Buccaneers: New Chicago
Once the location is found, they must be eradicated. There is no need to report the destruction, however players should keep in mind that multi-player assaults on the same location in a round can turn bloody, but can also weaken a defender for each successive assault. The locations must be seized… they are all planets that generate income.
In order to continue with the challenge, first players must decide to accept it, it is an Optional Crisis. This is done by a majority Player Vote to “Accept Chancellor’s Challenge” and when and if this occurs, each player will receive 2000 MS. It is anticipated that completing this ‘quest’ will take a few rounds.
Challenges
Uncover Pirate Alpha’s Name: Incomplete (1000 MS per Player)
Uncover Pirate Beta’s Name: Incomplete (1000 MS per Player)
Uncover Pirate Gamma’s Name: Incomplete (1000 MS per Player)
Discover Pirate Alpha’s Location: Incomplete (1000 MS per Player)
Discover Pirate Beta’s Location: Incomplete (1000 MS per Player)
Discover Pirate Gamma’s Location: Incomplete (1000 MS per Player)
Seize Pirate Alpha’s Location: Incomplete (1000 MS per Player)
Seize Pirate Beta’s Location: Incomplete (1000 MS per Player)
Seize Pirate Gamma’s Location: Incomplete (1000 MS per Player)
Complete all 9 tasks: Incomplete (4000 MS per Player)
Should a majority of players submit an incorrect name or location, 250 MS will be deducted from that reward. Perfect spelling is not necessary, either from the individual player’s or the Ag’s submission. The first named faction is Alpha, the second Beta and the third Gamma by default.
As mentioned, all three pirate faction names are known to you. This quest is offering some 105,000 MS amongst the players, and you may find it best to think of it as a pool, though when rewarded each player receives their payment it may be in the players best interest to devise an award the pay as a group (see Transfer and Transfer Funds Actions) for whoever actually provides the vital info or result. This strikes me as a good way to kill three birds with one stone, dispense the additional funds I wanted in play, practice some Intel abilities, and get people talking to each other. There is no time limit to the quest but money rather inflates as the game continues and 1000 MS isn’t as big a deal when your income is 15,000 MS around as opposed to 6000.
As extra icing on the cake, the pirate bases, while hardly luxury planets, are planets with incomes. Once this quest is complete, assuming it is accepted, additional quests may become available, hopefully I’d be able to present two or three options as opposed to just one by then, I rather like the idea of over-arching multi-round ‘Optional Crises’ to add onto the regular one per round. They also give people something to discuss between phase pauses for calculations, there is no night phase, players can keep posting in a thread until a new one opens, regardless of if a vote report has already come out.
Now as to how to go about this, I will say the pirates obviously have fairly decent Combat and Intrigue scores, raids being nothing but that, and it may take more than one attack to bring down their garrisons to seize the world. You may wish to coordinate your resources and offer a bounty amongst yourselves. Remember, a majority of players must submit the same name, you can obviously post more than one at once per player, same with location, though don’t waste time on random guesses. The trio of factions are known to players. That is all you need, once accepted they will become the only pirates factions conducting random attacks on the players and will keep up their current tempo until eradicated. If properly coordinated it should be possible to complete all the tasks by the end of Round 3… good luck.
The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.
- Albert Einstein
King of Cairhien 20-7-2
Chancellor of the Landsraad, Archduke of Is'Mod
- Albert Einstein
King of Cairhien 20-7-2
Chancellor of the Landsraad, Archduke of Is'Mod
Dune: Round 2
11/01/2011 03:33:07 AM
- 1237 Views
CHOAM Auction Round 2 Phase 1
11/01/2011 03:35:53 AM
- 910 Views
E2B - Agricultural Fief - 1 Militia (Min Bid 2000 MS, Inc 50 MS)
11/01/2011 04:17:53 AM
- 879 Views
2000 MS - Edited because of mistype, read 200 MS originally. *NM*
11/01/2011 11:33:08 PM
- 618 Views
2050 MS *NM*
13/01/2011 01:58:12 AM
- 380 Views
2100 MS *NM*
13/01/2011 11:38:52 AM
- 470 Views
EDIT: 2100 MS - Invalid bid, my stupidity
13/01/2011 11:43:24 AM
- 762 Views
Incidentally you could just offer Beet a sum to buy it off of him
13/01/2011 12:20:31 PM
- 726 Views
Wait, what is 9 PM EST time in GMT +2? this one closed before my second bid, right? *NM*
13/01/2011 11:40:26 AM
- 402 Views
I checked it. thats 4 AM my time.
13/01/2011 11:42:50 AM
- 705 Views
Ouch
13/01/2011 12:17:33 PM
- 713 Views
Too bad we don't have a chat room- that'd be perfect for outcry *NM*
13/01/2011 04:47:34 PM
- 885 Views
Rich Planet - Parmentier, Min Bid 3000 MS, 50 MS increment
11/01/2011 04:20:34 AM
- 937 Views
3000 MS *NM*
11/01/2011 02:26:00 PM
- 444 Views
3100 MS *NM*
11/01/2011 03:13:03 PM
- 425 Views
3300 MS *NM*
11/01/2011 04:00:49 PM
- 489 Views
3350 MS *NM*
11/01/2011 10:58:22 PM
- 432 Views
3400 MS *NM*
11/01/2011 11:30:49 PM
- 499 Views
3450 MS *NM*
12/01/2011 12:50:32 AM
- 499 Views
Pah, minimum bids. 3600 MS *NM*
12/01/2011 02:28:44 AM
- 514 Views
They're pretty abitrary for non-LiqVal items *NM*
12/01/2011 02:56:49 AM
- 449 Views
I think he was just Pahing the fact that we're bidding the minimum increments *NM*
12/01/2011 02:34:42 PM
- 512 Views
Quite probably - this seems a good point to mentioning Horizontal scroll in bidding wars
12/01/2011 02:59:56 PM
- 709 Views
3650 MS *NM*
12/01/2011 07:47:15 AM
- 504 Views
3700 MS *NM*
12/01/2011 02:33:41 PM
- 441 Views
3750 MS *NM*
12/01/2011 04:23:05 PM
- 464 Views
3850 MS *NM*
12/01/2011 07:04:46 PM
- 417 Views
3900 MS *NM*
13/01/2011 01:57:57 AM
- 377 Views
Cut that out! 4400 MS! *NM*
13/01/2011 06:17:52 AM
- 368 Views
I'm tempted to offer 4450... But not now.
13/01/2011 11:35:00 AM
- 793 Views
Well, as for the Crisis- is everyone pretty firm in what they're voting for? Dunno if I am
12/01/2011 05:45:11 AM
- 718 Views
Well I wouldn't mind listening to some persuasive arguments, if anybody has some to offer.
12/01/2011 05:51:48 AM
- 772 Views
Court Gossip - Chancellor’s Challenge
12/01/2011 09:20:43 AM
- 1127 Views
Vote: Accept Chancellor's Challenge. (Erm...?)
12/01/2011 05:46:38 PM
- 756 Views
I was attacked by the Bandits of Surewood Forest
12/01/2011 07:08:16 PM
- 772 Views
I think "pirates" just means "NPC raiders"
12/01/2011 07:35:04 PM
- 665 Views
Pirate Name: Pirates of Carib Ion Sea *NM*
12/01/2011 09:51:25 PM
- 432 Views
(Others should do this, too)
13/01/2011 07:31:09 AM
- 694 Views
I thought that as Adjutant General you could simply report our conclusions. *NM*
14/01/2011 06:02:38 AM
- 437 Views
4 players have to "confirm" the names HINT HINT
14/01/2011 08:21:23 AM
- 639 Views
Yeah, I did so below. I was explaining why I didn't do so earlier. *NM*
14/01/2011 07:15:00 PM
- 468 Views
"Pirate Name: Pirates of Carib Ion Sea" Yes, 4 of you have to do this for each pirate group *NM*
14/01/2011 04:05:29 AM
- 400 Views
Pirate Name: Pirates of Carib Ion Sea *NM*
14/01/2011 05:33:45 AM
- 435 Views
Pirate Name: Bandits of Surewood Forest *NM*
14/01/2011 05:34:11 AM
- 400 Views
Pirate Name: Pirates of Carib Ion Sea
14/01/2011 06:47:25 PM
- 713 Views
I think that makes 4 of us for every name.
15/01/2011 12:02:20 AM
- 759 Views
Oh, he already has. Nevermind then.
15/01/2011 12:03:30 AM
- 916 Views
Even when drunk, the magic of smartphones keeps message board games alive! *NM*
15/01/2011 06:50:33 AM
- 460 Views
Battle Plans
14/01/2011 02:44:01 PM
- 728 Views
As for the money... (and a couple other things)
14/01/2011 06:05:04 PM
- 754 Views
Weird. I thought I replied to this. Hm. Anyway, I could attack one of the pirate Strongholds. *NM*
14/01/2011 08:17:00 PM
- 435 Views
So yeah, we need 3 volunteers with decent Diplomacy/Intrigue stats
14/01/2011 09:43:58 PM
- 716 Views
As stated above, I will be one of them
15/01/2011 12:54:44 AM
- 769 Views
So is anyone else investigating pirates?
16/01/2011 02:28:06 AM
- 793 Views
I guess I could do one. *NM*
16/01/2011 02:43:05 AM
- 435 Views
Which group do you want?
16/01/2011 04:41:04 AM
- 711 Views
I'll deal with the Bandits of Surewood Forest, after all, they did make the mistake of attacking me.
16/01/2011 05:30:36 AM
- 766 Views
Some More Notes
15/01/2011 03:47:59 AM
- 715 Views
I'd be all for condensing it into one auction phase
15/01/2011 04:07:56 AM
- 782 Views
It'd be fairer for players like Bergioyn who aren't present near the deadline though.
15/01/2011 04:18:19 AM
- 762 Views