[LP CYOA] Epic

[Rex Feral]

Well up till now we've been really covert and spy like. Going A1 is surely going to blow our cover to SOMEONE (probably Naim). A2 sounds like a good choice and more congruent to our previous choices. And B is like invisible like, but boring. So the best choice would be A2.

However I find myself unable to resist the chance for Glory and I choose AA1


Ah well, reason triumphs over mindless vanity. AA2

 

[Kipeci]

What glory is there in thrashing him when we already know we can beat him up? Let's not reveal ourselves to everyone immediately for the sake of some lulz.

 

[treave]

The mech looks like a Xolotl, the first type you fought. Could be a mock up though.

 

[Azira]

Beating him up in an inferior frame, possibly just a mock-up? Yeah, I suppose it could be possible, but it seems the thing might be malfunctioning.
If people really wish to get into that frame, then choosing A in the first choice might make sense here. Have Yua directly interface with the CF will let her quickly assess if and where a malfunction/sabotage might be located.

As to whether we should just play along, or go outside the script. Well. I think trying to beat Naim is simply stupid. If we want to let him know who we are, I'm sure we could do some little maneouver that'd let him know, without necessarily tipping our hand to everyone else. Sheesh.

Still undecided as to what I'll settle on, but I'm tentativel leaning towards AA2.

 

[Baltika9]

Why would he rat us out, though? He let us go and felt guilty when he faced us. He owes us and he knows it and I'm banking on his feelings for Kyrie.
Attracting his attention now is more low-key than during filming.
As for the civs ,we're a spook.
And a note on Naim's "unbro:" he's as much of a pawn here as we were, chances are he didn't have a choice in the matter when he became the Hero,what was he gooing to do,tell the Empress off?He had a career to think of,not everyone has the balls Senya has.

 

[Kipeci]

Beating an experienced pilot of a combat frame in a dodgy CF mock-up is going to raise questions about how we've ourselves gotten the experience to do that. There are only so many who've piloted them so far, see? Now, when all these staff working on this project see some mysterious bodyguard beating the hero of the empire in one of those CFs, that's going to raise questions that are going to go and get leaked. That information is then going to flow really quickly to anyone who might wish to access it... and I'd rather we avoid that for just this moment.

The thing is, Naim doesn't have to rat us out to get this revealed if we go ahead with this plan to beat him. I see all sorts of losses written all over this potentially, but what's the benefit? That Naim knows who we are? We're going to be on the set for a while, it shouldn't be that hard to come up with a way to more discreetly communicate that message if you're that intent on it.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

B - Bros, treave is being kind to our dumb asses here. Let's take the offer before we fuck ourselves any more. Hello? Missing hand, anyone? ffs..
A - Brain. Hacking.
A2 - Pragmatic. No, B. (If B fails, then A2. Seriously, everyone will think we're crazy if we attack Naim without provocation. Edit: also consider the implications of attacking someone unproved. We may strengthen Senya's alter-ego. edit2: And aren't we supposed to be guarding someone rather than fighting in a mech...) I think we should talk to the girl standing next to us. Because...

I can feel Kawano staring at me from the side. Is anything strange? Suddenly, I realize that my shades are off. They must have fallen when I saved her just now. Damn, I hope that isn't a stare of recognition. Perhaps I should duck into the mech before she asks any questions?

treave...she's not...who I think she might be...

Regardless... We've picked the balls to the wall option one time too many. Last time it got us to the other world with our powers zapped. We need to think things through this time and gather intel. Nothing is stopping us from sneaking into the mech later.


Baltika9, I have a feeling your love affair with Theseus Jr. won't end until he's stabbing a sword into Senya's neck too.

 

[Baltika9]

Flopping to CB.
Edit: although, if A1 has a better chacne of beating A2, cont me for it.
I want to know more about this girl, her origins are extremely suspicious (in a bad way, and no, I do not believe she is Kyrie) and she can probably introduce us to Naim (mega-hot starlet, how can Naim pass up the chance to hobnob with her?)

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

BTW, bros, there's a reason why I keep calling Naim Theseus. Theseus wasn't evil. He was a really good guy. A victim of circumstance, not unlike Naim may be (we don't really know much about him). Theseus thought he was being merciful when he killed Ean. Had he not been insanely in love, he might have even chosen to help Ean. But that's the point. Naim clearly let's emotions like love and jealousy greatly affect him. That makes him extremely prone to putting us down "for our own good" or "to protect Kyrie" or "because I have no choice. I'm sorry, Senya...". I could easily picture him saying any of the above phrases as he runs us through.

Anyway, I digress. I'm just saying that we shouldn't trust him without reason. And we have zero reason to trust him. We can use him. Spy on him. Get him to tell us where Kyrie is. (Assuming Kyrie didn't undergo surgery to disguise herself like we did and isn't standing right next to us... treave ) But let's not trust him with our life on a hunch that he's secretly our pal.

 

[treave]

I can categorically deny that I ever planned for Naim to stab Senya with a sword.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Giant dildo then? Truly, to be the Codex's avatar is suffering...

 

[Bloodshifter]

Oh ye gods wtf are you people and constantly shunting Senya into the fucking Ean!(note I am using Ean for spotlight because that is what Ean would do jump bravely into the Center stage.)
BB
This Operation has to be on the DownLow that means no robo piloting.

 

[Azira]

Well, I'll vote. I still think the neural interface tentacles are awesome, so my vote ends up like this:
AB

 

[Smashing Axe]

AA2 - I want to investigate the cause of the droid attack and gain as much information as we can as quickly as we can. A1 seems stupid, we'll have other opportunities to approach Naim that don't involve revealing our superior piloting skills to everyone on set.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

We can investigate the cause of the attack later like the choice said. Just like with the mirror, remember? We could have come back later, but instead f'd up by breaking it immediately. Think about this: our charge just had an attempt on her life. Why would any responsible bodyguard leave now?

The only point to A is to kick the snot out of Naim. Beyond that, why - when we can achieve similar results with B without drawing pointless attention.

 

[Zwist]

AA2

B in the first choice would indeed fit our current play-style more, we tend to fuck up. Bad.
But A is usefull for what we want to end up being.
Still, B. Just to see if we get our arm back. And how the hell we are going to explain that.

I have a feeling Naim will just leave if no one pilots the frame, which is sad. He could be usefull.
But if Jacky boy is controlling the frame and starts shenanigans while we are inside, "styaing under the radar" is pretty much out....
A2 nonetheless. It might be our only way of being able to talk to the guy.

 

[GreyViper]

BA2

 

[Smashing Axe]

We can investigate the cause of the attack later like the choice said. Just like with the mirror, remember? We could have come back later, but instead f'd up by breaking it immediately. Think about this: our charge just had an attempt on her life. Why would any responsible bodyguard leave now?

The only point to A is to kick the snot out of Naim. Beyond that, why - when we can achieve similar results with B without drawing pointless attention.

To get away from the actress so we can put on our shades without it being suspicious, and to hopefully divert her attention temporarily. She might not recognise us if she doesn't get a long enough look. Besides, if we go A2 it won't draw too much attention.

Also, getting our hands on the frame will synergise well with the first A. If Cyber Jack is still logged in, we may be able to trace him with our interface ability.

 

[ScubaV]

I stand by AA2, though I would be fine with any combo that didn't include 1C or 2A1. Let me advocate for 1A a bit though.

I noticed people complaining about our missing hand. We've already been debriefed by Azo, if he hasn't mentioned any concerns about it already I doubt they will magically spring up in the future. At some point (if we haven't already, treave?) we will most likely get another mechanical replacement. Choice B says "They will automatically stitch up wounds and bind bones." There's nothing there to indicate we'll be able to regrow a new hand from scratch. So don't pick B because you think it will solve our missing hand or trick Azo.

Second and more important part, we're on a mission to protect kawaii teen idol, but that's part of a larger objective involving Cyber Jack who has been present from the start of this chapter. This guy is going to come into play sooner or later and you all chose a path that makes the former more likely than the latter. So now you're going to turn around and not pick the upgrade that will best let us track down/confront a hacker? Come on! A here has both short and long term benefits. We shouldn't be charging into combat situations anyway, as even some B voters will admit. I'll invoke the old sports adage: "Play to win, don't play to not lose." Yes the Codex fucks up sometimes, but we should be setting up our character for success not trying to prevent the inevitable mistakes.

 

[treave]

Oh, yeah, forgot to mention it but you already got a replacement fitted. It's not as comfortable or natural as the previous one, but it'll do in a pinch.

So, a bit of expanded information on both enhancements. Let's start with B, or as it should be called, the Autonomous Tendril Armour System (ATAS). (it's not animu cyberpunk without random acronyms )

You will not be able to regrow your hand with B. What it does is allow a more defensive application of your powers that works without using your ability - you could probably do the same when your ability is active, manually, but the enhancement makes it autonomous so you don't have to worry about the control. The defensive hardening should activate against anything you or Yua identifies as an incoming threat. It'll keep your body intact as much as it can but it does not perform any regeneration.

It can, however, allow you to go beyond human limits if you don't mind the pain. With your ability active, you can then 'safely' switch off your natural limiter so that you move and attack faster and harder than a human should be able to, at the cost of tearing your muscles and breaking your bones. The enhancement will take care of that by tying your body together with tendrils so that your still-human physiology doesn't fall apart after the first few seconds. It will allow you to finally keep up with low-level superhumans like the Dunamis in melee.

As for A, or the Cybernetic Tendril-Machine Interface (CyT-MI), the immediate applications are obvious.

Hack things. This does mean you can hack doors, cameras, lights, robots - basically, whatever you can access physically can be hacked. In fact, this also covers augments - you can jack implants as long as you can penetrate it with your cyber-tentacles. This is not limited to just normal limb or body part augments, but also to brain augments, as hinted at in the teaser preview. Note: this does not mean that Cyber Jack has tendrils or similar powers to Senya, so don't go jumping to wild conclusions about that.

More importantly, as cognitive enhancement implants are actually similar in action to actual neurons, being able to hijack the implants also means that you actually are able to mess with a normal brain, though to a more limited extent. With an unaugmented brain you will not be able to read minds or control their thoughts directly, but implanting suggestions is something that is certainly possible. You would probably need to use your ability to be able to pull this off with the required amount of finesse, however.

The digital extensions your tendrils will extrude are autonomous - once it reaches a suitable surface, it will automatically release microscopic extensions that will tunnel until it finds something it can interface with.

Or we could do it the old-fashioned way and make a

 

[Azira]

Seriously guys, we want the CyT-MI.
Hacking implants? Stellar! Planting suggestions in non-augmented brains? Even better yet!

The armor and moving in a super-human way is cool. Definitely. But Senya's not Ean and never were. Stop pining. Let's play Senya here instead.

 

[Zwist]

More importantly, as cognitive enhancement implants are actually similar in action to actual neurons, being able to hijack the implants also means that you actually are able to mess with a normal brain, though to a more limited extent. With an unaugmented brain you will not be able to read minds or control their thoughts directly, but implanting suggestions is something that is certainly possible. You would probably need to use your ability to be able to pull this off with the required amount of finesse, however.

Flipping

 

[TOME]

Flopping

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Flopping to AB for brain-hacking awesomeness. Plus, having something that will allow us to get into more bone breaking situations may not be the best of ideas...
AB

 

[aleam iacis]

BA2. I like the hack tool, but I think we will definitely get into combat situations which we have trouble with, whereas we already have a super-AI and genius intellect of our own to help with hacking and even getting around tech barriers without hacking. A would let us hack enemies, make augmented enemies turn against one another, and maybe even hack enemy mechs(from tentacle range)! But we would probably have a chance to get inside a mech, and we can already take out regular enemies with our abilities. I think the major threats to us are supernatural at this point, and option A offers little help against them. I figure we will face the Dumamis during this plot arc, not just because of treave's hint, but since we encounter them EVERY main(dealing with the Shinari empire/Kyrie's route) arc. Also I don't really like the thought of hacking brains, Senya is already near the edge of the abyss, and his 'aberrant' personality thing has come up once before when it had the opportunity...

That said, A would also let us learn more from our enemies, get more plot relevant data, and other info. And it would be awesome to ambush enemies, including the Dumamis, with hacked mecha(oh, as a bodyguard we can probably check the mech hangar for threats/investigate curse) and other tech stuff. But aside from the mecha, we can already hack everything else (it just requires planning ahead of time, or the opportunity of remote hacking with Yua + time).

With A, we can hack mechs to act as Yua/AI controlled allies, right? And plant such programming ahead of time?