Get bored and try and hook Smuggler up with someone he'd look adorable together with.
We're probably the only person giving him any hugs of any kind! He probably doesn't have much of a social life beyond selling shit to people and being friends with us.

>>447223
Time consuming tasks...

A) Fully exploring the dream world to see what its geographical limits are.
B) building novelty items that could be useful for disarming traps- things like ropes (with or without grappling hooks), poles, weights and ball&chains. Pickaxes maybe, both for mining and for literal wallhacking while in freeroam stages.
C) Rigging a big power transformer to get some high voltage or something, using parts from all the air conditioners and utilizing multiple outlets. Useful for traps and advanced science.
D) Figuring out a way to mine out shit without it taking bloody forever to do so.
E) Mining out shit.

Not time consuming:
1) Outfitting our stage-runners with weapons and armor that could be used to disable or avoid traps. Acid, fire, water, electricity, powerful digging or cutting implements, flight, hard armor instead of clothing.

Does Alison have any more weapon slots? Apparently we have five weapons now- hair, harp, piano, fire spell, acid spit. Do we get more slots from T3 weapon line? I know we have more armor slots, as we only picked two outfits so far. I think we should get another armor choice for battle. Something more like hard armor. Also since limited flight is a thing I want to either get Alison a body mod so she can fly, or put flight on our instage armor set.

We could also ask the contestants who went through last stage's freeroam/trap section if their armor helped at all and if the material they chose made any difference.

Alison should add to the note that if Glitcher doesn't see any way to do good with his powers, then he could do good by sharing what he knows. He's the only one here who remembers everything from before. As horrible a revelation it was, he knows what was attempted and failed before. With that knowledge, Alison can try things that haven't been tried before, and maybe, just maybe, find a way to change things for the better.

>>447223
Oh right and we should give Shopkeep a necklace or bracelet or something with pictures that he can wear and be aware of at all times that will help him keep his memory.

>>447233
Minor outfit change? We would pay for it of course. Just a necklace with a picture locket.

>>447233
Yeah, crafting a memory bracelet seems like a good try. It's more likely to catch his eye than a note he forgets is in his pocket.

Craft a spare, in case it doesn't stay with him when the stage starts.

>>447229
Some kind of get together at our house would be nice. A lower key party then we were planning before, with some fun and music to keep people's spirits up. Maybe the music will attract Glitcher?

>Stage runners
We need to decide whose going to do the stage with us (10 or so tier 3 people, I think). We need to take the risk, both to learn everything we can, save people along the way, and to overload the exit. Maybe we can earn some future respect and cooperation from King's faction if we help them in a tight spot.

Most of our allies only have 1 weapon form. They should try to grab two more each- one thing that could be used for traps, and one thing that could be used non-lethally in freeroam. That will give us more options.

>>447232
Pushing too hard, I think. The current note, music box, and house are sufficient.

>>447266
I think we have time for one at the house AND a rowdy one for the general population of the safe zone :D

I just had a thought, invite a Dealer, a Barkeep, a BlackSmith and a Shopkeep all into your house and ask them to all go to sleep just as the stage timer ends. Then next rest area we do the same thing.

More ideas.

Do we want to go back and experiment with the empty place the teleporters lead to again? Possibly with a better means of propulsion, or with the telescope? We might have something to learn there, but there's the risk of getting stuck.

See if Historian is willing to talk about that stage 8 keycard he had a location on. We won't need it for a while, but maybe we need to plan ahead on obtaining it (unless Historian already has it and was just playing coy, which is fine. He can hold on to it for now).

Spend some personal time with Iso. It's been a bit since you've seen him, and he's probably still feeling insecure over the past and possibly future "failure" thing.

Ask your system people how anyone from the system teleports back to a system zone after taking a teleport, since theirs are tiles out, and not devices you take with you. Those people you dispatched as huggers had to have some way of getting home- maybe we can use that in the future.

Speaking of huggers... have you heard, by any chance, any reports of an angry, unscannable person chasing contestants around the safe zone and hugging them? xD

>Yet, only while actually looking at the drawing, not just in inventory space.
The answer is clear. We must get a second picture (keeping this one as a backup), and construct a hat from which we can suspend it like an eyepatch.

>>447287

We must call it an eye drive for no good in-story reason!

Alison: if you end up talking to Glitcher, avoid topics like telling him what you're planning. Chances are, he's seen it before and it'll just make him sad. If you can and there's a good opportunity, ask him what you've never tried.

1/5 Alison 2012/08/25(Sat)10:43 No. 447454 ID: f09b71
File 134591662552.png - (17.10KB , 700x700 , ssf6-35.png )

Alison and Iso give a concert in one of the larger buildings. Some more recruits are gained, but otherwise it goes smoothly and uneventfully.

Later on, she gives a concert in her house as well for a several hour long party.

>Picture locket
One of Alison's new recruits smiths 2 lockets, one as a backup, the other to give to the shopkeep.

>Weapon forms
By this point, most people have at least 2 utility based weapon forms, and prefer to keep some slots open to have flexibility in stages.

>Armor forms
Armor appears far more cosmetic than weapons, even in freeroam. Material doesn't appear to matter so much, and utilities in armor seems almost non-functional.

2/5 Alison 2012/08/25(Sat)10:44 No. 447455 ID: f09b71
File 134591664034.png - (16.79KB , 700x700 , ssf6-36.png )

>Invite Dealer, Barkeep, Blacksmith and Shopkeep to house
They all decline.

>Talk about Historian's Stage 8 keycard
He says he doesn't know what to talk about in regards to it, it didn't appear any more or less special than Alison's.

>System huggers
Alison hasn't heard back from them.

>How do system people get back from doing their tasks?
Requesting a teleport back from the operators is another hidden skill available to those who are system connected and dispatched.

>Engineer tasks
He is having some success creating more advanced power sources for more modern, possibly futuristic furnishings. He is taking a much higher priority, along with some of Alison's people that took an interest in blacksmithing, in creating novelty items for helping deal with and disarm traps.

3/5 Alison 2012/08/25(Sat)10:44 No. 447456 ID: f09b71
File 134591665940.png - (9.20KB , 700x700 , ssf6-37.png )

>Iso Date
Iso is highly pleased to spend time with Alison.

4/5 Alison 2012/08/25(Sat)10:44 No. 447457 ID: f09b71
File 134591666948.png - (11.91KB , 700x700 , ssf6-38.png )

>Arbiter Date
So is the Arbiter.

5/5 Alison 2012/08/25(Sat)10:46 No. 447458 ID: f09b71
File 134591679882.png - (25.89KB , 700x700 , ssf6-39.png )

Glitcher's house is completed on a cliff overlooking a beach far below. Alison may try exploring the beach at a later date and location, but there doesn't appear to be anything functionally special about it. A note is left without being pushy on the glitcher, saying he is free to help himself to the house. Alison doesn't run into the glitcher personally again, however.

>Mining out stuff
There is plenty of manpower and plenty of tools that will help Engineer's luxury projects, but the time it takes travelling between the mine shafts and Alison's house is the main issue. Engineer is trying to find if there are any vehicles in the city, but hasn't had any luck so far.

The King approaches Alison while she is in the safe zone. He says that he has made a few thousand emblems, both for him and Alison. This way, he says, Alison's and King's recruits, members, vassals and all can recognize each other, both internally and externally and cooperate without having outsiders try and ride on their name. Alison just has to accept, he says.

It is getting close to the time for stage 6 entry, and Alison should decide on who to bring and who to sit in the stage. Most of the newer recruits will hang by in the dream house, but some will be running the stage as well.

That sounds reasonable. We will of course try to recruit more people if we can, though.

>>447458
We actually have our own emblem already don't we? I'm pretty sure we made them as part of the anti-shapeshifter measures.

In any case accept the offer, its the first step in becoming allies with him, recognizing each other as equals.

For the entries I suggest we take 10 tier 3s and 10 top tier 2s... as well as any who wish to come on top of that. It should all be volunteer only of course. I still think Alison should go. Maybe this stage will have some chests.

Where is the Recluse date.

Oh noes! Arbiter's relationship heart is waxing fuller and redder than Iso's! :O

>emblems
Didn't we have a similar system in place in corruption? Although I guess we've more than doubled our numbers since then (~800 to ~1800).

Accept, it's gesture of goodwill and cooperation. (Not that we're not willing to cooperate and overload exits with non-affiliated people as well. Save everyone, and all that).

>stage
Make sure all the new people who decide to brave the stage and not hide in the house are backed up via a persistence duel!

>Who to bring
>necessary core party
Alison (any risk to her is more than offset by the fact the team needs our leadership).
Iso (light trail and platform shenanigans).
Duelist (defense).
Healer (healing beats traps!)
Scanner (for scans)
Recluse (other defense, remote communication if separated).

>other potentially useful people
Clarence (more mobility)
Bandit (item theft)
Gambler (good at, and experienced with freeroam).
Gaurdsman, Atlas, Arbiter (they're really just more firepower)
Tier twos? (not sure if their abilities are worth risking them).
System people? (Hunters etc have cheatingly higher stats, but I'm not sure they've been with us long enough to feel comfortable asking them to step into the line of fire, and they have no experience with puzzles etc).

>leave behind
Smuggler. (We can't lose the shop, then we lose versatility completely).

In stage there are some tests that need to be done.

1) A tier 2 should immediately try to sleep upon entering the stage.
2) a tier 2 should try to sleep from the Dream once the stage starts.
3) a tier 2 should sleep mid-way through the stage.
4) a tier 2 should sleep in the dream mid-way through the stage. Probably needs to be told by Alison or Recluse to do so.

Just to be thorough we could do one at the end while the stage is dissolving... it would need a strict volunteer though and only from someone in the stage, we want to make sure we can pull people out, not sentance them to die. They should also be backed up 100%.

Arbiter actually has a strong defensive build, not offensive firepower role.

>>447467
also you mean YAY, Arbiter! and STOP FAILING ME, ISO ;3c

[Haha, I thought he "didn't want a queen" but he's still giving her roughly equal billing with these, even if Alison's don't have a crown symbol xD]

Smile at the gesture at least

Dang, no ideas about how to stop the stages? Maybe you can rush the admin location? Oh, no teleports dang. Uh... have Iso cut off all the exits, and if the levels start to disappear, create platform!

How could we test how far away you have to get from a platform before you're floating and not falling into insta-gib? Anyone willing to get in the catapult? c_c

1/2 Alison 2012/08/25(Sat)13:07 No. 447497 ID: f09b71
File 134592525194.png - (33.34KB , 700x700 , ssf6-40.png )

The emblems are accepted, they'll be mixed in with Alison's original emblems. With King's offer, it is easy to get enough for everyone. She estimates there are around 2,200 total people under Alison's name, but she's only met a chunk of them briefly.

>Where is the Recluse date
Recluses reason for being a Recluse has dissipated over some time so it isn't long before he comes out. Alison spends some time with him. It is mostly quiet, but he appreciates it all the same.

2/2 Alison 2012/08/25(Sat)13:07 No. 447498 ID: f09b71
File 134592526448.png - (52.25KB , 700x700 , ssf6-41.png )

As Alison starts sorting out some tier 2's for testing as well as her core party, Arbiter does note that unless he missed something, there is no sign that there will be teaming up this round. Everyone may be alone again, something Alison may want to consider while setting up the runner.

No he hasn't missed anything. Anyone we send in is almost certainly going to start spread out in different places (especially considering the number of contestants going in!). People have to be able to survive on their own until we meet together and team up.

I don't think we want to solo or anything though. The final stage will almost certainly require several people working together to control if we want to overload and let as many people through as possible (obviously, there will be freeroam and puzzle casualties).

Of course, the more people we bring, the more we risk losing to puzzles and freeroam before we team up (as tier 3s, combat is the least threatening to us at this point).

Suggested runners: Alison, Iso, Duelist, Scanner, Recluse, Healer, Clarence, Bandit, Gambler, Gaurdsman, Arbiter, sleep testing volunteers, all other volunteers who chose to bypass the safety of the house.

(Suggestions, edits?).

Also, runners should keep an eye out for a Shopkeep summoned during any mixups, so we can see if he retains the external memory item.

Atlas and Strongarm for summoning shenannigans might be useful for bypassing traps.

Alison 2012/08/25(Sat)14:11 No. 447524 ID: f09b71
File 134592910881.png - (48.46KB , 800x800 , ssf6-42.png )

The Arbiter advises that volatility still makes this dangerous, and there will likely be deaths, so Alison should make sure that she isn't sending anyone that she couldn't stand to lose. Functionally speaking, she'll be able to replace approximately 24 living Tier 3's should any of them die.

Projected Stage Team
Alison, iso, Duelist, Healer, Scanner, Recluse, Arbiter, Clarence, Atlas, Strongarm, Bandit, Gambler, Guardsman and 4 Tier 2 volunteers for tests.

Accept?

>>447524
Sounds good.

Engineer did have a legitimate concern regarding Alison entering the Stage. Since our real value there is our leadership, we could just stay in the city and have people with ghost talk summon us. We should probably ask our most trusted for their opinion on the matter.

And speaking of ghost talk, what did Recluse switch out for it? Block would be the best choice, since that's easily bypassable by attacking people he's likely to be protecting, but since he did it on his own there's a chance he got rid of float, which is helpful in areas with platform effects.

Noooooo. Let's leave our Delimiterx2 members out of the stages until the next one where we can group up. If we lose one of them we can't replace that easily. That would be Iso, Duelist, and Recluse. Have them stay behind if they are okay with it.

I'm tempted to have Alison stay behind too... that feels like a copout though.

Is Gambler even part of our group? If he is, we should get his stats. I expect him to be a bit into T2 at this point.

Well... we've still got the house, absorption, and ghost talk. Anyone who dies can still participate in everything but stages.

Although that's a lot of warnings. Maybe we should pull people we need for other things.

Pull Arbiter. We need him alive to try and access Corruptor's logs. Doesn't cripple us if anyone else is retired to the house.

We can't pull Recluse and Duelist. We'd like one person with protector around.

Alison stays in, we need control.

>>447531
If we are going to pull out anyone Arbiter sounds like a good choice... again though I think we should have Alison and her closest in the stage. We need the experience. If we do lose our sanctuary at stage 8 and we skip all the free-roam sections before then we are doomed simply because we don't know what works and what doesn't.

Also, do we need people with redundant skill sets? We could pull one of Iso / Clarence and Atlas / Strongarm. That way we still have immediate access to summoning and shenanigans next stage even if we lose people.

Arbiter going through the stage with a ghost talk Alison always up seems like a good way to have her stay safe, and see what happens.

That said, I am leaning towards Alison going.

>>447531
Protector is only useful if you're in a group situation. When split up like this, we need either people that can handle themselves on their own (Alison) or people that are expendable (any T2 players, or MAYBE some of our single delimiter T3 players)

Hey can we just buy Ghost Talk? That would be a good idea to have on our big players.

We will be in a group situation eventually.... every stage we've been in has a single exit and every time we've gone in we've been among the last exits by choice in order to get as many as out as possible. Some people are going to fight that and a protector is needed.

>>447718
Using either ability/boom absorb and/or Smuggler I think we could give anyone we wanted ghost talk, or pretty much anything else for that matter.

In the diss thread, we were discussing the possibility of giving the whole team ghost talk and having Alison run command and control for everyone at once from the house. It would mean doing rooms in parallel, but it would certainly give us an edge in puzzles, and the whole team would benefit from our leadership. Also, no one dies before we get there to help (...though some might die anyways).

Unnatural Selection - Thread 5 END Alison 2012/08/26(Sun)02:42 No. 447870 ID: f09b71
File 134597412204.png - (45.90KB , 700x700 , ssf6-43.png )

Alison will pull some individuals with redundant skillsets, and so Iso and Strongarm will stay back at the safe house. Recluse would like to go in. Duelist, too, would like to go in, but he'll make sure he's alive to help with later stages, especially 9. Arbiter will also remain at the safe house.

Gambler decides what the hell, he'll formally join Alison's group. He is brought to maximum Tier 2.

The four Tier 2's introduce themselves as being apprentices to the Engineer. They'll gladly test themselves in stage 6.

Alison's final team setup will be herself, Healer, Scanner, Recluse, Clarence, Atlas, Bandit, Gambler, Guardsman and the four volunteers.

Wiki Updated, Recluse and Arbiter have Ghost Talk. Also, votes will still be accepted for Alison going in or staying out of the stages, till the next thread.

>>447870
I think my final decision is that Alison should not risk her entire dreamworld's population just to get some additional hands-on experience. She can get almost as much benefit from staying in communication with Recluse via Ghost Talk.

This changes from my stance of not wanting her to stay behind because it felt like a copout.

I still think Alison needs the personal experience of running through a freeroam section while its not too late. Next stage we can be cowards and play superviser with al people running with ghost talk. Stage 6 should be relatively benign with the 100 exits.

I've decided it would be safer for everyone for Alison to stay behind, since the cons are all mitigated, or even turned into benefits, through ghost talk. We obviously need to have Gambler and the four volunteers get ghost talk and access to Alison's ghost so that she can keep in touch with as many people as possible; they can probably afford to give up an inventory boon for it, or if they have all of their novelty slots filled we can get them Extra Boons I. Actually, we should do that whether we stay in the city or not, since they could at least be supervised by Arbiter or Chief.

And Recluse got rid of Recursion? I guess if all of Alison's ghosts that aren't in the city or alive are always in the forest he might not see much point in having it anymore, but that still surprises me.

I kind of think we should just give everyone going in ghost talk, then Alison can guide everyone through at once. Doing puzzles in 8-way parallel will certainly be an advantage. Also, then we don't have to worry so much about people getting killed before we can do anything about it- since everyone will be under our control the whole time.

Assuming of course, that having an Alison on their shoulder means we're essentially controlling the other players. I don't like this plan if it instead means putting our characters on autopilot.

Thread 5 Epilogue: Rule Update Alison 2012/08/26(Sun)06:18 No. 447887 ID: f09b71
File 134598711459.png - (64.56KB , 900x600 , ssf6-44.png )

>Ghost talking multiple people
A brief experiment is given, in which it is found out that a single person can only be summoned by 3 different individuals at a single time.

Engineer says that he and perhaps mathematician will at least be able to keep in contact with the four tier 2s and tell Alison how it goes.

The three characters chosen to do so, if that route is made, will be directly controlled.

Okay, so only 3 team leaders?

Recluse seems obvious. And uh... I'd like to keep Scanner alive.

Torn on the third. I'm leaning Healer (we'll likely need her alive later in the stage). Clarence's light trail and platform abuses would be fun, but I think that's enough the keep her alive without our intervention. Atlas would be nice if the summon allies ability worked across rooms, but it doesn't. I kinda want to play with Bandit and Gaurdsman too, but there's no pressing reason for it.

(Oh, and obviously, we need to give the spare Shopkeep locket to one of the three).

>>447887
I definitely like the idea of Alison not going into the stage this time, if we can control 3 characters this way.

We should create a think-tank around Alison that can help us with the stages. Have at least Mathematician and Engineer hang out around us in order to provide advice on puzzle mechanics and freeroam sections. We can then use that advice when assisting people inside the stage.

GAH! Alright if we're going to do Alison the backseat commander lets do it right.

Team leaders:

Alison: Recluse, Scanner, Healer
Arbiter: Atlas, Mako, Bandit
Engineer: Volunteer 1, Volunteer 2, Clarence (Just so he can have her do experiments)
Math: Volunteer 3, Volunteer 4, Gambler (Gambler should do his own thing, Math should see how he works)

For the tier 3s they should replace with block if they have it, or the absorb boon if they don't.

>>447937
A distributed command and control system? That sounds... excellent. Increases everyone's odds of survival and allows passing of information (fatal traps, puzzle solutions, etc) without becoming needlessly bloated and hard for us to control. I love it.

Obviously, Alison, Arbiter, Math and Engie should be hanging out it the same room so they can pass information as needed.

...hopefully each commander being in four places at one (3 shoulders, 1 room) isn't too much of a headache for them.

I forgot about Gaurdsman.... lets bring Chief in as he IS a capable leader and well Gaurdsman does need a firm hand to know when to back the hell up. Wouldn't want him to attack the King hah.

Well, we could just abstract it bigger, and assign non-specified people to stay in contact with all the other unnamed recruits who opted to run the stage instead hiding in the house.

Also, it's unlikely all four of the volunteers will stay in. Either two of them will be able to escape the stage by sleeping, or two won't be able to get in by sleeping. So all of Math and Engie's slots won't be filled.

So Gaurdsman should be covered. (I'd wouldn't be surprised if he finds his way to Scanner pretty early though).