The Codexian Saga LP

[TNO]

A.

We're committed. Getting beaten back (or worse) isn't an option. We need to kill the Hi'in. I can see the temptation for C, but it is unwise: if it is the case that the Hi'in outmatch us, they will consolidate their gains and pull further ahead. If not, then we forfeit our advantage. C is delaying the inevitable. Our only chance is to press the assault - the people should follow us given our current losses.

I advise further combat with great reluctance. I note my prior warning about my hope that our fleets are armed with more than the bravado of this council. If I had my way, we would not have thrown ourselves into this battle by ham-handed duplicity. However, the die is cast.

 

[The Barbarian]

merely dictate that we begin holding the line with what we already have, not committing any forces into further major offensives into Hin'in-held territory?

This.

Also, I seem to remember we have AIs in the ships. Aren't they capable of simulating hin'in thought patterns and give us statistical predictions on the positioning of their troops?

Several problems with this suggestion. Namely, the AIs use human systems of logic, at their core. Emulating thought patterns requires knowing what those patterns tend to be, on an elementary level. The Hin'in mind is certainly still a mystery to Codexia.

Also, though ship AIs can make predictions regarding tactical deployments, they have no authority over one another or their human crews/commanders. It is up to the latter how to use any advice given. And, since the AIs are sentient, six different copies would give six different answers... Nonetheless, they have certainly been useful in waging this war.

Oh, and I presume option C means we keep rebuilding our fleet at the "current" rate?

Correct; in order to avoid further straining Codexia's socio-economic system.

 

[The Barbarian]

with the AIs' 'assessment' of the situation and maybe even their suggestion of a course of action? something elementary, but perhaps something they can gleam from the datastream that we, mere humans, cannot.

The Barbarian is wary of this, because it could be interpreted as a way of him giving 'tips' on what to do next. Conan is not inherently averse to it, but it would be difficult to balance such a mechanism, and would require the assent of the voting body.

The Hin'in mind may certainly be a mystery, but the hin'in attittude is not; given the amount of data we gathered in this war, I assume the AIs can and will make a rough outline of the course of the hin'in's actions.

Such predictions are about as useful as those of your existing human general staff. The reason being that an AI is still simply that - it is not a prescient being (meaning, it has a more efficient mind with a higher capacity - not an intuitively more profound or wiser one). Statistical number crunching is fine, but until you let the AI run your empire for you, few field commanders would be happy to entrust the deployment of their forces to... well... AI.

Consider: If an AI told you that it was best for you to die in a trench so that the platoon next to yours might encircle the enemy position, is this something you would be happy to accept? In this universe, the AIs remain tools/advisers, rather than agents.

Lastly, the Barbarian realizes some of the universe design choices he makes might seem strange. He makes every attempt to make all of this as plausible as possible, rest assured.

 

[Jack]

I vote A.
Either we will defeat them or die trying.

My long awaited revenge never came.
These mind-midgets took it from me.
We can't stop now, either death or subjugation awaits us if we do.
I won't allow Codexia to fall into Hin'in hands.

We will meet fire with more fire, numbers with more numbers and death with even more death.
Humanity will stand against our greatest foe and prevail.
From the ashes of our worlds we will rise again.
We have made it this far, let our heroism forever be remembered.
Our chances might be slim, but we will be victorious.

For Codexia! for glory! for pony!

 

[The Barbarian]

also, how soon can we get the AIs to run our empire for us? or better yet, ascend inside the AIs and become one all-encompassing conciousness? i was rather hoping to see that before I die.

You really just wish to fight the Core-Arm War, don't you? The Barbarian is on to your shenanigans.

 

[Azira]

Never give up! Never surrender!

Option A.

By Grabthor's Hammer, I salute you!

 

[wjw]

Alrite, I am persuaded. Certainly option A might lead to complete disaster but I have been thinking:


The enemy has:

[here i did some bad thinking so i deleted it... one point remained valid]

D. Four eyes.

Stopping our offensive will certainly lift their spirits. If they are backstabbers, (and we can assume this) they better fear us. So... changing vote to ... A !

Yeah, the bad points are:
Unhappy Codexians.
Risk of civil War.
Total defeat.

However, before that happens, we make the A.I. sentient, put our souls in it. Leave the galaxy. Return 20 000 posts later. Conquer the universe. I can live with that.

 

[praetor]

Alrite, I am persuaded. Certainly option A might lead to complete disaster but I have been thinking:

A. We have superior technology, our ships are faster and stronger.

we do not. it's the other way around. pay attention when you read

B. We have a superior number of ships. Means we have more power.

we do not know that

C. We have only just began to fight, while the Hi'in are fighting for a long time already and still haven't dug in.

what are you talking about? they've been in this war as long as we have

The enemy has:

A. Slighty worse technology.

B. Less ships.

no. see above

 

[wjw]

Aha. I see now. Then we are doomed! So be it.

--
"They are longer in the war:"

They basically destroyed what was left of the Raumen. We did not participate in that battle, (we were holding the line) so they must have had more losses than we did. I do not count our 'holding the line' as being in the war.

--
So their logistiscs and tech is better than ours. Then we must fight with our economy... again.

 

[Angthoron]

Well, at least the sad defeat of the 11th won't be a stain on Codexia's reputation for much longer...

 

[Jack]

For every great civilization there has been a point when the odds were against it, this is ours.
Outgunned and alone, we will fight until our last breath.
Our actions today will echo trough time, should we survive we will never be forgotten.
Codexia will endure, we have to.
Fearless and strong we will face the enemy.
Now, people rise up, and let the storm break loose!

 

[Brotherman Bill]

As soon as the people understand how important this war is, they will rally around the strong men, the leaders. They will understand the importance of sacrifice and unity in the face of danger.

go A

 

[Luan]

they have lost five hundred vessels, and if their navy was immeasurably more powerful than ours, we would have lost this war already. their advantage is not in strength, but in strategic capacity.

Wise words.

I vote A!!!!

 

[treave]

I applaud this war council's willingness to finish what it started.

As for me, the only problem with option A is Codexian fortitude - a result of centuries of decadence and politicking. They have no taste for blood. A prolonged war sees most Codexians whimper and beg for a truce.

This cannot be allowed to continue. I hope that with this, we will finally forge a stronger people. If we manage to rebuild the iron in our nerves and reignite the fire in our blood, Codexia will Ascend.

So for one last time, from aboard the CSS Djinn Exist, I will put my oft-betrayed trust in the average Codexian.

FLIPFLOP, OPTION A. TAKE THEM ALL ON

 

[praetor]

all right all right. i flipflop to A. fucking niggers.. you never listen to reason

 

[treave]

Half a parsec, half a parsec,
Half a parsec onward,
All in the sea of Death
Sailed the three hundred.
"Forward, the Eleventh!
"Charge for the batteries!" he said:
Into the sea of Death
Sailed the three hundred.

When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
All the worlds wondered.
Honor the charge they made,
Honor the Eleventh Fleet,
Noble three hundred.

***

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of ITZ:
ITZ is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are laid;
ITZ hath loosed the fatal lightning of ITZ terrible swift honourblade:
Codexia is marching on.

I have seen ITZ in the plasma-fires of a hundred broken battlefields;
They have built ITZ a Heavan in the stellar dews and damps;
and read ITZ righteous r00fles by the dim and flaring lamps.
Codexia is marching on.

I have read a fiery Codex, writ in burnished rows of plasteel:
As ye deal with my Discussers, so with you my grace shall deal;
Let the Neanderthal, born of womyn, crush the troll under his heel,
Codexia is marching on.

We have brought forth the cybernegro that shall never avoid combat;
We are crushing the hearts of xenos with our kingly comrade:
Oh! be sharp, my monocle! be jubilant, my multi-headed dick!
Codexia is marching on.

Beautiful fair Codexia was born in the interstellar sea,
With a glory in ITZ bosom that transsexualizes you and me:
As the old died to make men hate, let us die to make men free,
Codexia is marching on.

***

~excerpts from 'Patriotic Hymns of the Great and Glorious Republic of Codexia, the Bold, Brave and Beautiful; Part Three, Volume Six', circa 268 AU.

 

[juggernaut]

option C

If only we had our super weapon

 

[laclongquan]

Super weapon doesnt work shit if our infrastructure and logistic is shot to hell and gone. It's nice to say "Send in the Death Star! We will vaporize that puny planet!" but the movie fail to state the staggering amount of logistic work involved. How much of fuel that action involved by the way? in antimatter term? in fusion fuel term? We are not even talking about parts to maintain and repair during the process.

Superweapon is the dream of procurement officers and weapon manufacturers. Very easy to marketing, even easier to gloss over the cost to maintain afterward, and esp easy to pad a few pockets of your buddies.

 

[The Barbarian]

or (here is the option zero)

do you ask a full AI report on the situation?

Not beyond doing - but would still require the assent of the voting body. Is anyone else highly interested in seeing more AI-laden options like this? Though you're spending a choice in analyzing the situation, the end result might still be some *wink-wink* tips from the Barbarian - unless he becomes very capricious, indeed.

EDIT:

Would a 'More Information' insert be more suitable? In the past, the Barbarian has accommodated requests for elaboration on certain facets of various choices. If you have any specific questions, perhaps asking would be easier than the Barbarian's arbitrary decision on what you should know from an AI analysis.

 

[laclongquan]

Noooo!

Giving AI more responsibility also mean giving them more power and chance to revolt. No way!

I will not sacrifice chance to act just to give AI more chance. Nope!

 

[treave]

or (here is the option zero)

do you ask a full AI report on the situation?

Not beyond doing - but would still require the assent of the voting body. Is anyone else highly interested in seeing more AI-laden options like this? Though you're spending a choice in analyzing the situation, the end result might still be some *wink-wink* tips from the Barbarian - unless he becomes very capricious, indeed.

EDIT:

Would a 'More Information' insert be more suitable? In the past, the Barbarian has accommodated requests for elaboration on certain facets of various choices. If you have any specific questions, perhaps asking would be easier than the Barbarian's arbitrary decision on what you should know from an AI analysis.

Well, if we want to add flavour, we could compile all the questions together and present them in the form of an 'AI Report'. But that means more work for the Barbarian.

 

[The Barbarian]

It is no problem - but the questions would only get answers based on info you should have access to in the context of the gameworld.

 

[obediah]

or (here is the option zero)

do you ask a full AI report on the situation?

Not beyond doing - but would still require the assent of the voting body. Is anyone else highly interested in seeing more AI-laden options like this? Though you're spending a choice in analyzing the situation, the end result might still be some *wink-wink* tips from the Barbarian - unless he becomes very capricious, indeed.

EDIT:

Would a 'More Information' insert be more suitable? In the past, the Barbarian has accommodated requests for elaboration on certain facets of various choices. If you have any specific questions, perhaps asking would be easier than the Barbarian's arbitrary decision on what you should know from an AI analysis.

I've spent some time thinking about how to 'improve' the game play. The few paragraphs and 3 short choices is a huge bottleneck in information flow. From the longer discussions, it's clear that your choices as written are interpreted differently so that councilors are often voting for different things when they choose the same letter, and all of that information is lost anyway when you interpret the answer in yet another way.

This (deceptively) seems easy enough to fix, tinker with longer or compound answers, a Q&A session before voting, etc... However, I think this would overwhelm our poor barbarian and I strongly suspect the problem would get worse rather than better. Decision making on this scale is a bottomless pit of information and freedom, no matter how much you give us there will be confusion and misunderstandings, and the more effort we all put into it, the more frustrating those will be.

So my advice would be to keep it simple, and for my fellow councilors to not fret over imagined details so much and treat it more like a CYOA book of old.

 

[wjw]

Getting an AI report is not worth the trouble. It would only frustrate me, because it would seem as if one choice is the 'best'.

On the other hand, I would like to see some more 9 choice options.
ABC - ABC - ABC like in the Phyr war. I really liked that.

 

[The Barbarian]

wjw:

GET OUT OF THE BARBARIAN'S MIND!!!

The next choice is, how did you put it, a '9-option'.