On the shoulders of giants: a new multiple choices LP!

[Multiple Sarcasm]

A. Every man worth being called that should be able to defend his own. And I'm fairly sure that a yet uncultured dedicated military will eventually decide to overthrow the elder council and install its own, military dictatorship over the soft, pussified, defenseless peasants. That's not where I want to go - not unless we develop a conscience and some kind of bushido that will ensure a developing and harmonious, rather than decadent and decaying, society.

 

[Jick Magger]

Gonna go with B. Having a small group of guys who know what they're doing is preferable to an organized militia who barely know what they're doing.

 

[m4davis]

Gonna go with B. Having a small group of guys who know what they're doing is preferable to an organized militia who barely know what they're doing.

I'am pretty sure thats what we have now and the organized militia will have about the same type of experience as our hunters

 

[Lindblum]

A is the best option.
Think of basic weapons training like education it can be applied to multiple purposes.

B is useful if we are attacked otherwise the warriors will be sitting on their asses wasting our food.

"You council of old fags see how much time you've wasted? You should have just gotten the learning shit over with. We saved those bums and all we got was inevitable javelin technology, still no rafting." Shouted the Idol of Multiheaded Dicks.

 

[m4davis]

not to mention if we are attacked the numbers will be a whole lot more important then individual skill because if its relaying on individual skill they will just be overwhelmed by numbers and any big loses will be drastic set backs

 

[Lindblum]

If we are attacked by roaming bandits, numbers should scare them off and the odds of every militia gaining precious experience is maximized.

If hardened battle warriors attack us well we're screwed.

 

[m4davis]

umm for one thing this was a argument for option A but also its not like the training we are giving will stop for no reason the militia will keep getting stronger granted so would the warriors but heres the thing the militias growth rate would be the same as the tribe the warriors drastically slower and the villagers who are already hunters and fairly experienced will still get the benefits of the training and also we rooted out a lot of the weak people through our travels I doubt theres that many left who aren't in good enough shape to fight off the barbarians were hearing about with some basic training

 

[Vernydar]

A

My long term model is the Roman Empire, true. Elite, extremely organized army. But it's way too soon. We are few, we're still struggling for survival, we have no food stockpiles. We do not even have shelter yet. We simply cannot afford, in this moment, a permanent standing army.

The drain of having to maintain something like a fourth of our healthy young man as soldiers is simply too much. And I agree, we do not want to have struggles for power with a permanent military who's often not doing anything except for training. In the future, once we have cities, stockpiles, and a serious political organization, we will want to change to a permanent army. But now is simply too soon.

That said, having a militia service will indeed help avoid or solve some conflicts. After all, that way we have numbers, and in this period numbers are more intimidating than anything else to be honest.

 

[Esquilax]

A

Vernydar's reasoning is impeccable - at the technology level we're at right now, numbers count for more than organization and skill. Elite soldiers won't count for much if we happen to be overrun by barbarians and we need every man that we can muster. More importantly, we simply can't afford to create a warrior caste that isn't involved in the production of goods for survival at the moment. While we have enough food to support soldiers thanks to our domestication efforts, it's a waste considering those same people could be contributing by hunting, raising animals, fishing, etc. A large, relatively well-organized group of men with a basic proficiency in combat will serve us a lot better in a crisis situation than a small group of elites who are a drain on resources and struggling to protect a tribe of 300 that doesn't know how to defend themselves. With the size of our militia and our technological edge in terms of weaponry, I'd say that we will be equipped to deal with our foes at the moment. Also the cultural benefits are there, too - training our people will foster a sense of both self-sufficiency and community in our people.

That being said, I think it's important to realize the benefits of a small elite group as well. A soldier caste would cost resources, sure, but it would also create a demand on making more powerful weaponry and better protection to ensure that our fighting men are at their best. Still, regardless of the technological benefits, it's probably still too early.

In hindsight, I kinda wish we'd have picked the fishing option - seems like it would have been more useful and we would have still had time to prepare for the barbarian threat. Fishing and boats means lots of trade.

 

[Tigranes]

Fair enough, seems like the big thing is that at the moment, we don't have any clear borders or zones of contact with lasting threats, giving a soldier caste not much to do. Although in my mind we could easily see the hunting 'class' take on the military role, we might as well think short term too about hwo best to beat the oncoming horde.

Flip flop to A

 

[Stygian Lurker]

A.
If we don't get attacked B. is just a waste of time. Also with A. we have more soldiers, and I think that at this point numbers are important.

 

[Monty]

I agree with the majority here. Specialisation will be more applicable when our numbers have increased and we can support a standing army. Our tech needs to advance first too, I think there's only so much training you can do with a crude obsidian axe, when more advanced weapons are available then training becomes more valuable. As Vernydar stated, numbers probably matter more than training at this point.

A

 

[Kz3r0]

A

 

[Curufinwe]

A pretty overwhelming victory for the 'militia' option. The council has spoken.

The council opted to give some training to everyone in the tribe. The warrior chief nodded, and grimly set to the task. Him and a few others, the best in the use of spear, axe and javelin, took the instructor role.

Life went back to normal, with the addition of training rotations of small numbers of the tribe's men. The herds were tended again, scavenging resumed and more time was given to the study of the refugees' boats and fishing methods.

Months passed without any event worth of notice, and the tribe got restless again. Concerns were raised about the direction the tribe's efforts should be directed to.

A. Some scouts, in a pause of their endless ranging around the campsite, approached the council first: 'We need to expand our scouting rings, and explore the mountain's surrounding, to know what lies beyond our immediate sight.'
B. A few of the refugees, with the support of another handful of scouts, said: 'We live next to this big rock, yet don't know anything about it... its upper layers were never visited, the caves who were found were never approached: who knows what dangers and resources could be found in the area?'
C. The hunters, supported by the fighting instructors, spoke last: 'In the last years we have been busy with tales of dangers from afar, of great monsters and dangerous enemies. Yet we haven't forgotten the dangers next to us. We still don't know much about the great bear (thus was the great furry beast named) or the stalkers in the shadows. This should be corrected while we have the time and the means.'

 

[m4davis]

c. we need to know more about the present dangers and if we can turn them into advantages

 

[Kz3r0]

C

 

[Omicron]

C

 

[Vernydar]

B

Going to vote B here. A and C do have a lot of benefits as well .
A would give us a better knowledge of the territory around, and maybe contact with other tribes. Of course, this could be good or bad, but knowledge is generally never bad.
B could give us a better knowledge of the mountain, maybe some resources, maybe seeing something from higher up in the mountain? And exploration of the caverns...
C is a mostly practical choice, that should make the surrounding area safer, maybe let us learn something useful from those beasts (maybe..... domesticate the wolves? War dogs ahoy!)

But.... I will vote B this time because I'm toooooo curious about the caverns XD

 

[Monty]

A few updates ago I was concerned that the 'shadowy stalkers' would present an immediate danger, but since then we have developed better weapons and trained a militia. So while we have to address this potential danger (and possible opportunity) at some point, I think the mountain is a better goal right now. We live right next to it yet have not explored it properly, who knows what's in the caves and there is the potential for new resources.

B it is.

 

[m4davis]

true but you also have to think of morale if the hunters are being stalked it won't matter if there much safer there going to be scared and this fear will only rise as it continues with them not knowing whats doing it or why this will rather quickly reach a point where the hunters just come right back to the village when they think there being stalked or it will dampen there focus and make it harder for them to get enough food to feed the tribe

 

[oscar]

B, I like the idea of new resources.

 

[m4davis]

about the only new resources that could be discovered is metal right but then how will we get the metal out of the mountain we don't have pickaxes or anything other then obsidian tipped spears that will shatter if attempted for that purpose

 

[Esquilax]

I think we can rule A out - the refugees that we encountered gave us a rundown of what we can expect of our surroundings. It's a little vague, but we at least have a few clues as to what's out there.

The possible tech advantages of B could be amazing. We could find copper or other metals in those caves, which would aid the tribe greatly. That being said, it could also be dangerous and filled with monsters like the wyvern that terrorized the refugees. Working in our favour is that we have lots of armed men with throwing spears and fire to light the way once we're inside - I think we'll be able to handle anything that comes our way in there.

That being said, I originally voted for C when the opportunity first came up in order to provide our men with experience. Taking out a bear is great for morale and a much greater test of skill than capturing half-starved villagers. It will mean that a few of our men will be battle-ready when we eventually meet the barbarians that the refugees mentioned. Also, we'll have a good lay of the land and knowledge of our territory should an attack occur.

I'm still not sure yet, could go either way.

 

[Hirato]

B

 

[Jick Magger]

Gonna go with B, although we're probably still too primitive to be able to into metallurgy, having knowledge on the mountain would be very useful should we be attacked.
As for a possible Wyvern attack...

...We'll worry about that later.

On a sidenote, waking up by earthquake sucks.

I slept through an earthquake on a trip to Wanaka once. You better believe I was confused as hell when I woke up and found all my books and DVDs on the floor.