Payola Mafia - Game Over

[the silent speaker]

Pay 10: help im a bug
Pay 10: Twomz

While sitting on your pile is a good strategy for anyone, not just the mafia, if everyone follows it nothing will get done. And "half your pile gone" is no handicap when we get more money every night. This doesn't mean that Twomz isn't trying to bull-rush the town into having no choice but to follow him -- anyone who has ever played poker should be familiar with the Big Raise tactic -- so I paid both of them up.

I think it may be to the game's advantage for the mod to (make a firm deadline but) not tell us exactly when the deadline is, so people don't try to stall until just before and do all of their playing as close to the deadline as possible. If we only know

about

when night is going to fall, we will have to participate throughout.

[the silent speaker]

An uncertain deadline gives the oppurtunity for a few players (i.e. the scum) to achieve a result contrary to what the majority (i.e. the Town) wants.

But they don't know when it is either. They could go all-in at any time, but that commits them when the town can still react and they can do that anyway. I'm more worried about them waiting until *just before* and then pushing the lynch minimally above the highest bid on them, without giving the town the time to outbid. If they don't know when it

is

just before, they can't do that.

[the silent speaker]

... If we all agreed that the payola leader will not pay anything during the two-hour grace period, does that work? Anyone other than the leader can still try to save someone they think needs saving, but there's no incentive to hoard everything to the grace period for use in saving self.

[the silent speaker]

you guys should all will your money to Pooky.
This is because Pooky is your friendly innocent helpful protown player bear.
And cuz Pooky's a magical bear.
And cuz Pooky has candy!

So... you're offering us candy while urging us to make you the beneficiary of our wills? I bet the candy's lethal.

[the silent speaker]

I notice you're still not guaranteeing that the candy won't kill us.

[the silent speaker]

Nightcow is what now?

[the silent speaker]

From here on out, deadline is always 2 hours from last payment.

Does this mean that whenever someone makes a payment for the rest of the game, if nobody follows up with another payment within two hours, bam, night?

[the silent speaker]

Twomz, tell us something.

BJ is, as usual, not helpful, but I think this time it's a pro-town not-helpful.

[the silent speaker]

I think it's unlikely that Twomz's sanity will be revealed; for one thing, if it is paranoid revealing it will tell any other cop that his guilties are useful -- good for us, but mods seldom do it for just that reason. And there are other considerations.

Logicticus, you can

change

your will. You can change it at any time. Boosting the masons' budget=helpful for town.

[the silent speaker]

If you have a role that tells you the sanity of the cops, how do you not have any suggestions of who to lynch, as evidenced by your lack of paying for anyone?

[the silent speaker]

Mark this day on your calendars, for I agree with BabyJ. Except that I think it's Thoth the money should be put on.

[the silent speaker]

That's one person on The List paying big bucks. Stoof, you can't save yorself, but if you aren't willing to team with logicticus or inHim to spend a fortune on Thoth, I for one will shed no tears when you die.

[the silent speaker]

And what have I done that warrants that?

Nothing. Which is exactly the point.

[the silent speaker]

I think BJ should be using his cash to save Stooferdoc now.

I think I'll put my money where Pooky's mouth is.

Pay 10: Thoth.

I believe that's a lead change.

Mod edit: Yes, this is a lead change.

[the silent speaker]

A doc claim should never be a way to be certain of avoiding a lynch. Scum claim doc.

This is true.

A doc is very unlikely to counterclaim on day 2 in a 16-player game. The lack of counterclaim is completely meaningless.

This is also true.

However, it does not follow that not lynching the claimed doc is a wasted day. There are other scum we can try to get -- it would not surprise me if two or even all of Thoth, inHim and Logicticus were scum -- and still buy the doc (if he is one) an extra protection. Later, if we still think Stoofer is scummy, we can kill him then, but we can't unkill him when he could have persuaded us fairly that he is the doc after all.

[the silent speaker]

I'm also interested to hear from tss what reasons there are to pursue me. I've already got a lot of money on me, but no reasoning whatsoever.

I've already said. You have posted virtually no content this game at all. That's not like you, Thoth. Added to that the list of people I can be relatively confident are not scum is relatively large for this point in the game (and you're not on it), and there are some potentially curious interactions of others not on that list regarding who paid how much for whom when, and you come out looking like a darned good lynch.

[the silent speaker]

I'd rather buy out Cogito than VisMaior -- I don't get a terribly scummy vibe from Vis, though there's no real reason he

couldn't

be. On the other hand, a big bidding war between me and

BabyJesus

is bad on all levels. BJ, if it comes to it do you have a particular problem with chasing out Cogito, or are you good either way?

[the silent speaker]

@ You know who you are: Why so much, why has no sign of this surfaced, and how negotiable is this?

[the silent speaker]

I received an offer during the day (by way of the mod). It was not an offer to join the Mafia, but it was something I could potentially gain from; however, the offerer was demanding $400 for the thing being offered. I'm hoping to get some information about this offer before making up my mind whether or not to accept, as $400 otherwise willed to a mason is a considerable sum.

[the silent speaker]

I don't think the dakness of the figure signifies anything more than "you don't know who it is." Simply ruling out the prople who

didn't

send it, though...

[the silent speaker]

what was your offer....

Why do you care?

[the silent speaker]

Ah, don't worry, BJ. Cogito wouldn't out his own gf that easily.

[the silent speaker]

What part of "suspicious, yes, but autolynching them plays into the mafia's hands just as much as autofreebieing them" has been giving you trouble?

[the silent speaker]

2. has called several people suspicious without giving reasons
3. didn't go after logicticus
4. received an "offer" at a convenient time

2. I did? Where?
3. By that logic, Nightcow and Pooky are both scummy because they didn't go after logicticus either -- and

you

paid to save him. The simple fact is, whenever I got online logicticus was leading the payment count, so I didn't feel I needed to bother. I heartily aproved his lynch and would have paid on him had it been necessary; of course, I recognize that you have only my word for this.
4. Pooky and bj have both gotten offers before and since, respectively, so I don't see how you expect to get away with implying that it's spurious. Thank you for confirming that it wasn't both from you and not a scum ploy, though.

[the silent speaker]

although I think Vis is scum...

Then why was it me you paid for?

Fritz, I'd be more concerned if Vaughn

had

claimed the protection sales, because yesterday he denied knowing anything about them.

Our only possible remaining scum (assuming non-vanilla claims all truthful) are inHim, Vis, and BJ; I'm Nightcow's mason buddy. I think Vis is relatively less scummy than the other two, and inHim somewhat more than BJ, but BJ's fishing at the end of yesterday over the offer made to me bothers me. You're willed to Nightcow, right? If so,

pay 20: BabyJesus

is more helpful than buying out inHim. After that, even if you turn out town, Nightcow and I can just buy out everyone who needs to be bought out one by one.

inHim, you claim next.

[the silent speaker]

That was actually one of the things I find suspicious in your behavior, BJ. What was your hurry? Let him shift the lead; it'd have been as good as an admission of guilt under the circumstances, and he could always be paid back into the lynch later.

[the silent speaker]

So me pushing scum logiticus hard, and then paying enough to make certain scum CES wasn't able to deflect his own lynch makes ME scummy?

No. You doing something that

looks

like it pushes scum hard, but in fact does absolutely nothing helpful, makes you look scummy.

CES couldn't deflect his own lynch under any circumstances unless we let ourselves be deflected. He was

already the payment leader

-- no thanks to you, who were paying on VisMaior. You, as town, ought to have reasoned:
CES is scum and stands to be lynched. The more money I have, the better off the town is, all else equal.
Either CES will pay to save himself, or he won't. If he does, I will immediately outbid him (unless someone else beats me to the punch, not impossible as he would be virtually admitting guilt by such an action). I will be out my $50, but there won't be any help for it. If he doesn't, my $50 won't be necessary; he's dead without me. So by waiting with my dough, I might end up paying $50 or I might not. What I will

not

end up doing is letting the scum live. By paying right now, I and the town are out the $50 regardless of what CES would have decided, and the scum is not any deader.

Your payment did not clinch anything except getting your name onto the right payola list.

That

is why I find it suspect.

Also, way to tell inHim what to claim. If you are scum and the game doesn't end, I know who I'm paying for tomorrow.

[the silent speaker]

...inHim, How come you kept following Mr Stoofer/Vaughn after the first time he went somewhere other than the nightkill?

[the silent speaker]

Mod: If at the start of day someone were to pay equal amounts on two players, and no one else were to make a payment that day, what would happen?